Echo
by Haste87
Summary: Echo must learn to control his great power, if he has any hope of fulfilling his destiny. Part one of a 3 part series, which isn't nearly as cliché as this summary makes it sound.
1. Prologue

Okay everyone, this is my first attempt at a first person fanfic, so I hope someone enjoys it. I worked hard and any comments or help with my writing will be appreciated and put to heart. So here it goes. -crosses fingers-

**_Echo: Prologue_**

_A History_

* * *

No one is exactly sure how the Earth came to be. Some believe the explosion of a star was the beginning of it all. Others believe some great deity created the earth. It is safe to say that the second option is more correct; however, whether it was a deity or not is a little harder to answer. The creator of worlds is said to be a great spirit, who's only goal is to repeat the experiment of existence until success is reached. You may be thinking this great entity to be insane, after all, the definition of insanity repeating the same action and expecting a different result? However, in each world new world there is a distinct difference, and that would be the spirit's children, the gods.

In the world currently in question, there were not many gods, but each one chose a domain to rule over. Zeus chose the sky. Hades ruled the earth. Poseidon ruled the seas. Athena ruled over nature. Hera ruled over the supernatural. Hermies ruled over the shadows. Eris ruled over the darkness. It is said that she did not only rule over darkness, but was darkness herself, spawned from the source of all evil, which of course I cannot write down for fear of the consequences. Aries ruled over conflict. It was Aries, of course, who gave shape to the first humans.

Humans, as we can see from first hand experience, had obvious flaws. Because they came from a god of war, they were naturally inclined to fight. They did not care to go explore or learn; they had absolutely no interest in the world around them. Their focus was to become physically dominant over their fellow humans.

Zeus, the ruler of the gods, deemed these creatures to be unworthy of life, and set out for their destruction. However, Aries whined, and complained, and even resorted to the closest thing to crying that a god can get to. Zeus felt pity for Aries, and allowed this breed to survive, on one condition. He forced Aries to become their patron god and care these creatures, which was a task Aries readily accepted. These humans which he named "Warriors," built their homes in the vast mountain ranges of the northern regions of the continent, and called their city, Perion. Aries visited them often, and his people loved him.

This act of pity from Zeus caused a wave rage and jealousy from the gods. It also didn't help to see Aries beaming with pride as he walked into the palace halls, bragging and telling tales of the monuments erected in his name, or how much his humans adored him. Soon three other gods demanded the right to create their own race of humans. In order to keep dealings between friendly, Zeus reluctantly approved.

Athena created a curious group of humans, in tune with the gentle creatures of the earth, only killing when necessary. Athena saw their potential, and trained them in the art of using her most prized tool, the bow and arrow. She personally came down from the heavenly palace gates to tutor the humans in its use. Many excelled, and the ones who did she moved to a separate town of her own creation, Henesys, located on the southern reaches of the still unnamed continent, and named them "Bowmen."

Hera's humans were extremely intelligent. Their creativity and mental capabilities rivaled hers. They craved and begged for knowledge, and Hera gave it to them. They adsorbed the powers of magic like it was water, and learned to use it as second nature. Soon they were creating spells hat even Hera herself could not think of. These "Magicians," moved to the western forest area of where the magic was most potent and named their establishment Ellina.

Hermes made his race very quick, very smart, and extremely lucky. They excelled in life, and lead an easy existence, playing, relaxing, and honing their skills with the dagger and the new weapon they developed, the claw. They got along well with the Bowmen because they shared their casual attitude toward life. They made an impressive looking city from fields they cleared cleared and paved over in the east. These relaxed individuals called themselves "Rogues." By the time the rogues were settled, all four races, now deemed jobs, send representatives to a convention where the name of the continent was deemed Victoria.

The different jobs became restless, tired of the confines of the earth, which was becoming too small for the great mass of people. Zeus was pressured to create a magical city in his domain which he named Orbis, in honor of his beloved pet, Orbi. Humans who felt no particular allegiance to a god left to live in Orbis. Poseidon became jealous of Zeus and created his own city under the sea. He named his city Aquarium. People also flocked to Aquarium, for its isolated lifestyle and exotic wildlife. Hades felt like he should create a domain to fit in with the crowd. He created the toy city of Ludibrium, named after his pet, Ludiar. People came to Ludibrium for the fun, excitement, and worldly delights. The gods were content, and so were the humans. This peace continued for millennia, until Eris became uneasy.

The peace disturbed her. People should not get a long, they are meant for war. She was, without a doubt, the smartest of the gods. She was cold, calculating, and just plain evil. After the one thousandth year anniversary of the creation of the earth, Eris introduced evil into the world. She corrupted the minds of the once peaceful animals of earth. Numerous attacks occurred against the seven towns before the humans discovered the creatures, now regarded as monsters, were something to worry about.

Eris and her pet, the Lucida, lead the army of monsters against each of the towns. Most were destroyed, and the humans flocked to the last remaining town, Perion, of the Warriors. Here they used the terrain to their advantage and managed to destroy the bulk of the army. The monsters went back into hiding, flocking into the dungeon created by Eris in the center of Victoria.

The humans were outraged at this attack. After rebuilding most of their cities, they rebelled against their once loved gods, whom they felt were responsible for these attacks. They challenged the gods, vast armies that stretched on for miles assembled for this assault. The battle raged on for months, but the humans eventually emerged victorious. The gods were forced to retreat to the palace, thinking that all hope was lost, until Zeus decided that each of the gods should disguise themselves as humans and assimilate into their patron towns. Eris also disguised herself, and wandered around Victoria, waiting for the right time to disrupt the peace and restore the rule of her creatures once again. On one of her travels she was courted by a crafty fellow who lived in Kerning. She lived with him for awhile and they eventually wed. She had one child with her husband, but then she mysteriously disappeared. No one knows what happened to her child, or to her. No one really cared. The other gods lead uneventful lives, and are presumed dead.

* * *

_Prologue_

No one is exactly sure where the boy came from. He was first seen outside of the only orphanage that remained standing in Kerning City, wrapped in a golden scarf, head resting on a gold bound, rune engraved book. Tucked inside his clothing was a note, telling whoever happened to find him to give him the items he was sent there with when he became of age.

The head master of the orphanage took the child in and gave him a warm bed and hot meal. At first the child seemed content, but as he grew older he was given less and less special treatment, and became more like one of the troubled children from the orphanage. He wasn't a pickpocket or ruffian like the others, but he had a dark air around him. He almost never smiled and only spoke when spoken too. And even then his reply would only be one word as most. His anti-social attitude gained him the nickname Echo.

Despite the boy's attitude, no one could doubt that he was brilliant. Unlike the other students, he worked for his money and spent and spent all of it on books. He started his own personal library in the room he sometimes shared with the other orphans. He taught himself to read, and read all he could about combat and strategy. His first couple pay checks went to saving up for a silver lined field dagger he had his eye on in the self defense store. The time he didn't spend reading he spent practicing techniques he read about in the back yard.

No matter how skilled Echo got in combat, he chose to not use talents in an underground fighting ring, like the one created by the notorious Jin, which promised riches beyond his wildest dreams. He only fought in self defense, and in the defense of the younger members of the orphanage. For this the youngest ones came to love him, and often followed him around the orphanage, trying to look as important as possible. Most of them tried to learn to read or fight for themselves, however most gave up and just lived under the protection of Echo.

Although Echo cared for the younger children, he didn't really talk to them, at least not meaningfully. He still stayed mostly to himself, and locked the younger kids out of his room to read. None of this changed until he was around eight years old.

One day when Echo was training in the backyard, a new boy arrived at the orphanage, named Yian. Yian came in and made himself right at home in Echo's bed, reading some of his books. When Echo came back inside, he found Yian in that same position, intently staring at one of his most expensive combat strategy manuscripts.

As you can imagine Echo was furious, he ran into the room and pushed Yian off the bed. Yian landed gracefully, and calmly counterattacked, sending Echo to the floor, gasping for air.

At first the relationship between the two boys was venomous; they would always find ways to punish each other when they least expected it. One time Echo put some harsh laxatives in Yian's milk. He was in the bathroom for days. Anyway, after the first few months, and constant pleading from the frantic head mistress, the boys became best friends. They both had an intense love of reading and combat, and Yian was the only boy who could compete with Echo intellectually. They would have long conversations about complex theories they had about battle, constantly contradicting and correcting each other. It was their goal in life to outsmart the other. They also knew how to work together to complete a common goal. They started classes to start teaching some of the younger orphans about combat, and they even developed a new irrigation system for the crops the orphanage planted for profit. The years after that were the most plentiful and prosperous years for the orphanage, every kid got a fresh pair of clothes and a hot meal three times a day, which was unheard of in Kerning. Almost no one in the city got three full meals a day.

All was fine until one day, when Echo was eight; a call came to the head master. Echo's parents, Ceryxus and Daiia, had been found. Apparently they had to give him up as a baby because at the moment they both had no job and were living on the streets. They now had good jobs and could afford a child.

The headmaster found both Echo and Yian training together in the backyard and relayed the message to him. Echo was obviously ecstatic, but Yian was clearly holding back blinding rage.

_How dare those two deadbeats give up my best friend, and then come out of nowhere expecting a huge parade or something. They gave him up, how dare they take him away from me now! No, they will not take him away from me!_

Echo's parents were scheduled to travel into Kerning from Ellina. Yian gathered up his meager belongings, a black bandana, his field dagger and pan lid, and 300 mesos for food. He traveled for two days straight to set up an ambush on one of the most well traveled roads from Ellina to Kerning. Two and a half days later, it happened. Ceryxus was an experienced fighter, but not even he could stand against a well planned out ambush from an extremely angry, surprisingly talented warrior. Echo's parents were slain.

Three days after Echo's parents were supposed to arrive, Echo completely lost hope. He completely stopped talking to everyone, including Yian. Yian knew the kind of pain Echo must have been feeling, but he still thought it was for the best. After Echo's behavior continued for over a month, Yian decided the best thing he could do for Echo was to tell him what he did, and why he did it.

When Echo finished hearing Yian's story, Yian was grinning ear to ear, and Echo was dead inside. Everything he thought was definite in his life was now proven to be lies. The kind of sadness he was feeling was like none ever experienced before. Although his eyes were still blue, they held the pain and suffering of generations. His eyes glazed over, and he lost complete control.

When Echo woke from his trance, it was too late. Yian lay dead at his feet, covered in bruised and lacerations. There were pools of blood everywhere. Echo didn't even cry. He stumbled over to his bed and went to sleep.

It was around this time when the Combat Specialists Institution became interested in Echo. They sent several recruiters to the orphanage, and even offered to "donate" a substantial amount of money to the orphanage if Echo agreed to attend their chain of schools. Echo agreed, he was tired of his old life. Three weeks after accepting, five hundred million mesos were donated to the orphanage, and Echo moved into Basic Training.

At first Echo excelled in all of his classes, but when he heard some of the things teachers started to say about him and his performance, that he was obviously cheating because he was _just_ and orphan and he couldn't possibly be on a higher level than the kids they were training for years on end, he gradually and purposely lowered his grade point average to about a three, which is the average of all the students attending. With his teachers satisfied he continued his work, however, one kid still carried a grudge. His name was Soren, and his goal in life was to make Echo as miserable as possible. Acts of harassment and humiliation were common occurrences in Echo's life, until one day he snapped.

This is where the story starts. The tale of a boy and the destiny he must create for himself.


	2. First Offense

Echo I

_**Echo I**_

_First Offense_

**"So what are we going to do?"**

**"About what?"**

**"The boy, could he possibly be the one we've been looking for?"**

**"All the signs seem to fit. But you are aware of the inherent dangers of going through with this?"**

**"Of course. I am aware of who his father is."**

**"All true. . . we will have to watch him closely. If we push him too far. . . "**

**"I am aware of the consequences."**

**"So what do you intend to do?"**

**"I will continue as planned. If he gets to talking with the wrong people our whole plan could be unraveled."**

**"I wouldn't expect anything less."**

* * *

I slowly walked into the school, a dark cloud above my head. "Another day, another beating," I thought to myself as I tried to slip down the hallways unnoticed, my padded dagger sheath banging softly against the metal lockers.

"Hey Echo." spat a boy from behind me.

"Leave me alone Soren." I grumbled, a hint of anger lingered in my voice. In my mind I imagined slowly stabbing him with my field dagger, watching him writhe and twitch in a pool of his own blood. Well, maybe that's a little dramatic, but still, he really got on my nerves.

"What's with the cold greeting? Are you asking for an early beating?" He grasped his trident tightly around the grip made of old rags.

"I'm warning you, just walk away." My grip on the hilt of my knife tightened. My knuckles turned white from the pressure.

"Why? What are you going to do about it?" The way dragged out the you made my blood boil. My hand began to shake violently and fire manifested itself in my stare. My iris' turned blood red and my canine teeth grew into fangs. I was ready to kill.

"I warned you." My voice sounded rough, like sandpaper. I unsheathed my dagger and ran directly at him. He looked awfully confident with his little spear. He held the trident diagonally across his chest. I had to find a way to get behind it.

_Well, if I attack from the side..._

Soren began to pull down his spear. If I continued in this direction at this speed, I would be pretty badly with the lower left side of the trident tip. I did not want that to happen.

I shifted my weight to the right and pushed off hard with my right foot, left foot dangling slightly in the air behind my right. The trident barely brushed past my shoulder. From my perspective, it looked as if I am zoomed out of the world around me, zooming in when I focus.

With my new found momentum, I reached out with my dagger as far as I could. My dagger made a large gash in his left bicep. He screamed out in agony as his muscle was lacerated, becoming limp and unresponsive to his commands. His trident dropped to the floor at the precise moment I slammed into the wall. I cleaned the blood off my dagger with my shirt and started to walk away, satisfied with my work.

"Get back here you little shit! I'm going to kill you!" By now a large crowd had gathered. I slowly turned my head and shot him a look that could kill him 1000 times over, if looks could actually kill. I channeled my energy into the dagger and charged in for the final blow.

I rushed directly at him, dagger perpendicular to my torso. I lunged, and he rolled to the left, causing my dagger to become embedded in the wooden wall of the school building. I didn't even bother to take it out. I picked up his limp and trembling body by the head, thumbs above his eyebrows. Blows rained anon my stomach, however I didn't care. I wanted him dead. I applied tremendous pressure to his skull. I heard a small crack. Tears were streaming down his face. His body wend limp.

"Please . . . I'm begging you . . . don't . . . don't kill me." It was pathetic how he begged. I heard another small crack, and his whole body began to lurch.

"Stop this madness!" Someone yelled behind me in the crowd. I felt a myriad of small jabs on my back, and then everything went black.


	3. School

_**Echo II**_

_School_

**Get over here and look at this!**

**What exactly am I looking at?**

**Just watch . . . now.**

**That power . . . it couldn't be!**

**But it is, and I'm genuinely impressed.**

**Well what does this mean?**

**It means we're about to get a new ally.**

* * *

I opened my eyes to find myself in a small undecorated room that oddly smelled like day old fish and stale red bean porridge. It was approximately a perfect cube, about 6 by 6 by 6 meters. The only other thing in the room were two chairs, one I was sitting on, and the other one facing me about a meter away.

A tall slot opened up in the wall behind me. "Ah, Echo. . . you're awake." An older man, somewhere in his 40's walked in from what I assume was an extremely well hidden door. He stepped with an even rhythm to the chair opposite me. He sat down slowly and laboriously, as a result of an obvious lack of joint strength.

He sat there and stared at me for a while, thinking about something that must be important to him.

"You know, you almost killed him." I didn't say anything because this was not a question, so I just kept examining the walls for impurities. So far I couldn't find any. Man, whoever built this place did a decent job.

"He is in intensive care. He is going to get a metal plate implanted into his skull." Again I said nothing.

"Echo… do you know why you're here?" I wasn't sure what to say. If this is a rhetorical question I shouldn't say anything, but I don't think it was because the mans face looked very quizzical.

"Because I hurt Soren?"

"No, I just thought you'd like to know how he's doing. The reason you were brought here, instead of prison, is because we need your help." He paused, hoping for a reaction. When none came he continued. "You are going to be transferred to Battle Academy immediately. The ship leaves in 20 minutes."

The man stood up and pressed his hand to the wall. The same door appeared and he walked out; however, it didn't close this time. I wasn't sure if I should leave or not, but he didn't say not to. I followed him through the narrow corridors, jogging behind him to keep pace. Soon we reached the exit, and emerged into a small harbor. In it were four ships, similar to the ones that carry passengers between Orbis and Ellina. Only one of the ships had a platform for boarding. I scrambled up the ramp after the man and walked into the ship's cabin. The spacious room was filled with children, but I seemed to be the youngest. I walked inside and took a seat between a girl with a really big head and a guy with green eyes and dirty blue hair.

The man walked up to the front of the room. "Launch will commence in ten minutes. If you choose to not fasten your seatbelt you will most likely die. After launch you will receive further instructions." The man walked around the crowd and into a copper lined door in the center of the back wall.

As soon as he walked out of the room the children erupted in nervous and excited chatter. Because the two people next to me decided I wasn't worth their precious time, I took the time to conduct some observations. There was a kid in the front of the room that was particularly noticeable. He wasn't talking; he just sat there, hands folded, eyes closed. He had wild red hair and a fierce look of concentration, like he was calculating something important. I noticed another girl, four seats in front of me. She was talking, but seemed distracted, as if she was calculating or making observations, like I was. I could have sworn she glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. I also couldn't help noticing she was attractive. . . very attractive. She had long silky black hair and beautiful shiny green eyes. I would definitely have to keep and eye out for these two. Everyone else was talking normally, unconcerned with their surroundings. Idiots, this time would be critical.

After the ten minutes were there was a small rumble coming from the front wall. These must be the engines. So the cabin is facing backwards. Interesting. With each passing second the whining sound got louder and louder, so loud it seemed to cancel out your thoughts. Then, as fast as the sound had started it stopped, and the ship blasted into the sky. The force on my chest from the launch was as powerful as Soren's spear stroke; it nearly took my breath away. Soon the pain subsided and the ship reached a fairly even speed.

"Well, looks like another adventure." The people sitting next to me looked at me quizzically, but it didn't matter. The man walked back into the cabin.

"Hello. You have all been transferred to the Battle Academy because of your exceptional performance in Basic Training. Here in Battle Academy your training will be intense. You will have a break period for two and a half hours every day, in which you may resume your training, eat lunch, or take the time for yourselves. All of you are now rank one. You will be provided with your rank one uniforms for your respective professions. There are five ranks; however, the fifth rank is reserved for captains of guilds, which is where you will be assigned after the satisfactory competition of training. When the ship arrives you will exit the vessel, single file, and be escorted to your novice living quarters."

He walked back around the crowd and into the copper lined door. As soon as the door closed the ship lurched again, and suddenly came to a complete stop.

The ship had arrived.


	4. The Mind

_**Echo III**_

_The Mind_

**Sister?**

**Yes?**

**Come and look at this boy.**  
**  
What about him?**  
**  
I can't seem to view his future.**

**Pish posh, we both know that is impossible.**

**This is interesting. I've never seen someone whose future wasn't . . . flexible before.**

**Well what does this mean?**

**It means that he is the only one who can determine the fate of the war ahead. **

**Impossible! The fate of the war has already been foreseen.**  
**  
This boy should not even have been born. If the right people can figure out how to use him, they have the power to override fate.**

**I only pray Demitri can get to him before Eris does.**

* * *

It seemed like an eternity waiting for the doors one the ship to open. The crowd of children were split in attitude. Most were excited while the rest of them were nervous, and did a bad job of hiding it. Where ever we were going, they would be first to go.

I didn't feel either excited or nervous. Why should I? I didn't choose to be here, I was chosen, so why should I worry about what's ahead. Either I'll make it through the night or I wont; I'd be okay with either of these. I did, however, feel slightly curious as to what was in store for us. I assumed it would be rigorous training, most likely in combat, only slightly touching on academics.

Why was I chosen? I didn't perform to my full potential in Basic Training; I wasn't that grand of a fighter. Maybe it was my intellect, but I purposely tried to keep my grades average to avoid attention. Maybe it was the fact that on every test I got a three of five. Maintaining regularity in my grades might have aroused suspicion, why couldn't I have though about this before?

After about five minutes of sitting idly in the cabin I heard a soft yet noticeable crack. A giant gate on the right side of the ship slowly creaked open. The stress on the old rusty hinges gave off a loud buckling noise. Several people around me covered their ears to fend off the obnoxious sound. The sunlight flooded into the compact cabin, momentarily blinding me. After my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see we landed in a dock identical to the one that we departed from.

"Hello!" The shrill voice of an overly eager boy filled the air. Everyone turned to see the man who made the announcements and a boy who looked to be around ten years of age standing in a much smaller door to the left of the large gate.

"This boy will lead you to your rooms." The announcer looked around the room. "Do not underestimate him because of his size. Happens to be 15 and could kill one of you without even blinking." The announcer looked at me a moment longer than everyone else. Hah, the fool. He thinks he has me figured out, like I cannot bear to have anyone in control of me. That was not the reason I fought Soren at all. I would not challenge the boy because there was no reason to. Soren was going to hurt me, so I fought him. This boy was only sent as an escort, not as an opponent.

"Ok everyone, follow me!" The boy started to briskly walk out the door and down the platform. I jumped over a few rows of people and shot the announcer a look before launching out the door after the boy, who was already down the platform.

Everyone behind me was jogging slowly, probably admiring the facility. Even I had to admit it was a very well crafted building. Definitely reaches out and grabs attention, whether you want to look or not.

The boy led us through the twisted hallways of the building, and eventually we came to a large room, with wooden bunk beds hammered into the walls.

"This will be your sleeping quarters. First everyone choose a bed." The children frantically ran around the room, trying to find a bed closest to their newly made friends. I chose the bed closest to the front of the door, under a large poster that said "PEPS: Preparation, Execution, Precision, Success."

"Now that you have chosen your sleeping quarters, look behind you." Everyone turned to the walls.

"Stick your index finger in the lock and turn."

I twisted my finger in the lock and felt a tingling sensation travel up my arm. A door to the right of the lock opened. Inside were two pairs clothing and something that looked like a large flat piece of wood. Amazing, yet again they made doors so well designed, measured, and hidden that even I could not tell they were there.

"The lock has registered your finger print, width, and sweat signatures. You will find these locks all around the building. They will be used to open doors and dispense food, and also double as a way to track your movements throughout the facility. Wouldn't want you noobies wandering around and getting lost now would we?"

You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Several of the students made smart remarks to each other. They didn't have the courage to talk back to the boy who apparently could kill them as easily as getting a drink of water.

"These lockers will be used to store your books and whatever personal possessions you may have brought with you. Inside the locker you will find two pairs of clothes and your desks. Desks will be used for your studies. The silk outfit is for relaxing. The thicker outfits are your rank one uniforms. Put them on now." The students all reached for the uniforms and grudgingly put them on. The uniform was to big for me. It felt like I was swimming in it.

"Ok look on the left sleeve. There should be a blue button. Press it." I pressed the button and the uniform snapped tight around me. It fit like a glove. I reached over to close the locker, but my arm wasn't were it was supposed to be. I looked around and the other students seemed to be having the same problem.

"As you may have noticed, it takes much more force to move your limbs now. This is to constantly train your bodies in strength. During battles the extra force required will lessen, you should be surprised with the results." I tried to move my arm again. It seemed like I had to try and use as much force that would normally be required to make a successful punch to move my arm normally.

"No time to rest you lazy cadets, lets get moving." He started to walk out the door. I noticed he didn't move as awkwardly as the rest of us. He must be strong. I followed him rather easily. He wasn't moving slowly enough to allow us to get used to the suits. Not a very courteous guy.

He led us into a bright room with many ridges in the wall. "Ok I have to leave you guys now, good luck!" He disappeared in a flash of light. Good luck? With what?

A man walked out from another hidden door. "Welcome trainees. We are now going to give you a little test of mind and body." As he said this the suits began to relax, and I could move normally again. "In a few moments I will walk out of this room and you will be free to attack each other. The last man standing wins." The man walked out of the room, and everything went black.

I opened my eyes in a room. It wasn't really dark, but it wasn't bright either.

_That's odd, I don't see any lights, why can I see? More importantly where am I?_

I tried to move my head but it refused to budge.

_Odd. . ._

I tried to move my arm but it also wouldn't move.

_Drugged? I can't move but. . ._

I tried to call apon the power I used when fighting Soren. Just the memory made me so mad... I felt my teeth beginning to lengthen...

_Why can't I feel any changes in the room? When I fought Soren I could sense the wind patterns shifting changing by the smallest amount, and the heat from the room was amplified. Now I can't feel anything at all. I couldn't have been drugged, why would they risk harming some of the most promising children in the world. Unless they wanted us dead, but if that was the case they would have blown up the ship of just killed us when we were knocked out. This has to be something else._

_Why couldn't I feel anything? Unless there is nothing to feel. . . but that is crazy. What had the man said? "A test of body and mind." Why would he say that? If this was an elimination match, why would you need intelligence for a test of brute strength? I understand we are going to learn tactics here, but we have not taken any formal classes yet, and Basic Training was not all that revealing. The test itself does not make sense either. Why would they want us to kill each other? Weren't we the prized possessions of our towns? If they killed us then war would definitely erupt. There had to be some deeper meaning. . . unless this is all in our heads. That would explain the lack of temperature and heat, but there is no way. . . The locks. That sensation was probably the transition into this mental simulation. So this was all a test to see if we could figure it out._

_So now that I know what's happening what's going to happen now?_

Almost like an answer to my question, my limbs gained feeling. I could move again.

_Well movement is useless without a weapon._

Again, I felt my dagger and sheath return to its familiar place at my side.

_Now to kill everyone else._

It looked as if no one else figured out what was happening. It was easy to eliminate everyone else. A simple stab to the head sufficed. I finished eliminating 37 of my 39 fellow classmates. The other two were left on the other side of the room. I slowly walked over to the other side of the room. No need to rush, they could not move anyway. As I got closer, I realized those two people were the boy and girl I noticed from the ship. Funny, I though they were smarter than the rest. Oh well. I prepared to strike the boy first.

My dagger was inches from his face when my blade was intercepted. The familiar sound of metal hitting metal ran through my ears. It was a long silver staff with a blue orb at the end that caused the clash. I looked over to see the girl was the one wielding the weapon.

"What do you think your doing?" Her voice slipped into my ears like honey. She really was beautiful.

"Our task is to eliminate everyone else. I was merely following instructions." She looked annoyed with me.

"If you were smart enough to break the illusion, you should know that nothing you do here will affect anything in real life. They are just trying to separate the best from the best, obviously your better than him. Why would you still feel the need to harm him?" I hadn't thought of it that way.

"You broke the illusion even faster than I did, and look; he is coming out of it now too." I looked and saw she was right, the boy was sitting upright. I put away my dagger and she placed her staff in the holder on her back.

"I'm sorry for acting so hastily. Since we are obviously the smartest ones here, why don't we work together?" The girl looked like she was considering the offer.

"An alliance?"

"Yes. This test was most likely to see which one of us was most capable to lead. We three have proven that we are equals, and if we make a truce then we will show that we don't have to win an all costs. This would be the wise decision." The boy looked up at us.

"What's going on now?" The girl interrupted him.

"We are not equals. You figured it out before I did." What a smart girl.

"That doesn't mean we can't work together."

"Fine, I'll join" The girl stuck out her hand. I didn't know what to do.

"Shake it. . ." I took her hand and shook.

"My name is Laillie. I prefer Lai." The boy looked up again.

"I'm not sure what just happened, but if your teaming up I want in. Never can get enough friends." His hand shot up.

"My name's Royan, but people call me Roy."

"My name is Echo. Nice to meet you."

As soon as I finished my statement I felt my entire body getting hot. It started to burn, like I was on fire. Then came a brilliant flash of light. I found the three of us in an extremely small and dark room.

"Hello you three. Welcome to the mind."


	5. Memories

_**Echo IV**_

_Memories_

**Three of the students have solved the mystery in record time. No one has ever recovered movement as fast as they have.**

**Hmph. Don't waste your time telling me things I already know.  
**  
**Sorry sir.**

**Aid, prepare a link to The Mind. I think I have an idea of where they're going. **

* * *

The three of us quickly swiveled around to see a tall man with brown hair. He was wearing a gray suit and bandanna, with some expensive looking black shoes. He carried no weapons and the cheerful yet tortured look on his face made him look . . . mysterious. . . and important.

_The Mind? I wonder if that's what this place is called. _

"Everything you see here is a part of The Mind."

He gestured behind him with his strong smooth hand; the other one remained in his pocket.

"Here you have no limits; you can do things you've only dreamed about."

The man jumped up to an impossible height and landed crouched on the ceiling, upside down. He slowly stood up, or is it down, and put both of his hands in his pockets.

"The trick here is to not think about anything; just let your instincts take over."

He dropped from the ceiling, face down, and stopped in mid air, half way to the floor. He floated over to me and looked into my eyes.

"See something you like?" I asked while taking a step backwards.

"Think fast!" he shouted before disappearing. Roy and Lai looked even more surprised. All of the sudden a throwing star came shooting out at me from the right. I quickly jumped, even higher than I thought I could, and tried to mimic the strange man's previous feat. I desperately tried to stick the wall that was behind me, to no avail. I crashed to the floor, but strangely didn't feel any pain.

The sound of laughter came from beneath me. I jumped again and stabbed down with my dagger. There was no one there.

"The point of The Mind is not to inflict pain, so don't worry if you fall. Attack without hesitating, but don't purposely put yourself in danger."

The man's voice seemed to come from everywhere. Seven stars came at me from all directions at different heights. If I jumped I would still be hit. I would have to block them.

I gripped my dagger with both hands and swung at each of the stars, never stooping my movement. Six of them clattered to the ground, the seventh hit the back of my leg. I didn't feel any pain, but I noticed the functionality of that leg was reduced. I guess The Mind only simulates the effects of a wound, removing the distraction of pain. The man appeared in front of me. He looked even more cheerful. I think he was crazy.

"You're doing well for your first time."

He tried to punch me in the stomach with his now armor clad hand. I caught his hand with my left, and lunged out with my dagger, directly for his face.

"That's it, aim to kill, you won't beat me if you are not trying to kill me."

He moved his head to the side, easily dodging my blow. I continued moving forward and spun around so I was facing his back. I maneuvered his arm around so it sort of looked like he was hugging himself. I stuck my leg in front of his and pulled; catching his leg and making him awkwardly sprawl over his armor clad arm, falling towards the floor head first. Before he hit the floor he disappeared again.

"You impress me Echo. I will have to keep my eye out for you."

More stars flung at me, from the front this time. I did not flinch. I quickly deflected the stars and jumped to the wall again, just in time to see the man sailing past where my body was just a few seconds ago.  
_  
He's good. Wait a second. . . how did I know to jump?_

This time I successfully stuck to the wall with my feet, but only for a second. I jumped off the wall into the air with my dagger out, spinning in midair. The man's arm collided with the outstretched dagger.  
_  
This is weird, it's like my body knows what it should be doing, but doesn't feel like relaying the message to my brain. _

"This is amazing Echo, no one adapts this quickly to combat in The Mind. You should be proud."

The man disappeared again. More stars this time, from all sides . . . faster . . . too many to count. There was no escape; they were going to hit me. I kept spinning in the air, pathetically blocking a few of the less accurate stars. They ripped into my skin, completely destroying my clothing. Blood rained down from my wounds. I heard Lai yelp in the distance, further than I remember traveling.

My body fell to the floor and I completely collapsed. The stars sunk deeper into my skin, scraping bones and completely tearing my muscles to pieces. It was hard to breath. My arm started to feel hot. Then warm. Then burning hot. It felt like my arm was exploding from the inside. Mere throwing stars couldn't cause this kind of pain. Not here at least.

This feeling spread throughout my body. The sensation was almost unbearable. I mustered up the strength to move my head down to look at the rest of my body. It seemed as if I was turning completely transparent.

"It seems as if you are the one we've been looking for."

The man was crouching next to my head. He was whispering, not so the others couldn't hear, it was more like he was whispering because he was deep in thought. The quiet didn't last.

"It looks like they found us. We will have to spar again the next time we meet. I look forward to seeing you again."

He got up and looked over to Lai and Roy, who were looking over at me, still in shock.

"I want to see you two again also. Train hard, because I must test you too."

A column of light surrounded them. I saw Lai trying to run to me. The column slowly closed on itself, and they were gone.

"See you later."

He paused and looked deep into my eyes, with sadness I had only seen once before in my life.

"Ceryxus."

He sighed and disappeared right before my eyes. Ceryxus . . . how did he know that name? Maybe I had imagined that. Or maybe that man is more important that I realized. Not that it mattered. I was gone now.

I came to staring at the ceiling. I blinked. I couldn't remember opening my eyes. Oh well.

I was laying on a small bed in what seemed to be a hospital room. I didn't even feel like looking around.

So you're alive again.

It was just a simple thought. I paid it no mind, until I realized the tense was wrong. That couldn't have been my thought . . . but it was in my head.

Don't be alarmed, it's just me.

What's going on here? I looked down at my chest, only to find a creature resting there like he belonged. It was very small and looked something like a cat. It had dark fur and on its head the tips of it was pinkish red. It had two stubbly wings on the sides of its head and had oddly big red eyes.

"Ahh!"

I felt like I wanted to jump out of the bed onto the ceiling, but I didn't have the energy.

I did just say don't be alarmed.

"What the hell? Is that you?"

Wow, pretty and smart.

"Don't get sarcastic with me, it's not everyday you wake up to see a telepathic cat sitting on your chest."

It was "silent" for a while.

Cat?

"Can someone get in here?!" I keep my eyes glued to the door, hoping someone would come.

Nice try.

_What?_ The cat scampered over to the door just as it creaked open. It let out a kind of growl, bark, yelp combination. The cleric (I assume he was a cleric because he was wearing a robe and had a staff on his back . . . and he was working in a clinic) at the door shrunk back out of surprise.

"Good luck with that."

He said as he ran out of the room, closing the door behind him.

I heard the creature sigh out of amused fustration.

Humans scare so easily.

It chuckled to itself, well, it chuckled in my head, and jumped back onto my bed.

Stop referring to me as a "thing." I'm a Lucida.

"A Lucida? Like from the stories?"

They're not stories, they're real. And I'm not a baby. I may not look it, but I'm at least 300 years old.

"Three hundred? No way."

Yes way. Lucidas don't mature until they find a master. You should be honored.

"Am I your master then?"

Yes.

"How, though? I haven't even met you before."

I didn't need to meet you to choose you. These things are a matter of fate, and I think I was sent here to meet you.

"Sent here?"

Yes, how else would I have gotten here.

"Who sent you?"

I don't really remember, all my memories before we bonded are blurry.

I looked down at my arm. There were two small bite marks and the skin around them was scorched.

"Did you do this?"

His eyes saddened. Before he could answer me the door burst open. The same cleric from before burst in. He looked at the Lucida and flinched, but he stood his ground. Two bowmen and a warrior walked in behind him.

"Echo, we are going to need you to c-come with us."

He spoke slowly and firmly, he only stuttered once.

Hah, he's terrified of me. This is way too easy. I giggled to myself.

"Who's going to make us? You four? Hah, Yian could take all of you out without even blinking."

The Lucida looked up at me, before I realized what I had just said. I called him Yian.

_Why are all these names from my past coming back to me? I spent so long trying to block them out. . ._

I slammed my fist into the table next to me. The cleric jumped in surprise. I looked back down at the Lucida. His eyes looked unbearably sad. I forgot, he can read my thoughts._ Okay Lucida, I guess I have to call you Yian now. You should be honored, it's a powerful name._ Yian looked happier, and yelped in excitement. The cleric flinched again. He really was a coward. I could feel Yian chuckling.

I suddenly felt like I had a lot more energy. I hopped out of the bed and onto my feet. I wobbled for a minute, then caught my balance.

"Okay cleric, I'm in a forgiving mood, so I'll pardon you for barging into my room like that. I'll follow you, if your men put down their weapons."

"I don't think I'm authorized. . ."

Yian did another one of his pathetic growl imitations.

"Ok ok, please you leave your weapons here."

I assume the soldiers were students here, because there weapons weren't all that strong. Yian jumped on my head while the cleric lead us out of the room, two in front of me, one behind.

_Do you think you can see where he's taking us?_

Yeah give me a second.

We kept walking for a few seconds.

He's taking us to see the head cleric, and apparently she's a knockout.

I chuckled and the cleric turned around confused.

"Keep walking lover boy."

He turned around quickly, blushing. The student soldiers snickered, so did Yian. If school is going to be like this, I think I'm going to like it here.


	6. Paint

_**Echo V**_

_Paint_

* * *

**Demirti, what do you think you're doing taking students to uncharted regions of The Mind?**

**I was merely curious.**

**Is that all you have to say for yourself?**

**I didn't think I needed permission to test students abilities.**

**You do when that particular person has the fate of the world on his shoulders.**

**One boy should not have to bare that burden alone.**

**So is that what you want? Your share of the suffering?**

**If it is what's needed of me, I'll do it.**

* * *

We continued walking down the twisting corridors. Occasionally I would stumble a little and fall into the warrior walking in front of me. He would shove me backwards and I'd have to re-steady myself. I didn't like what was going on here. I needed to get back to my old self.  
_  
Just in case we have to run for it, try and remember the path we're taking. I don't want to get lost here._

…You're kidding right?

_How is that funny?_

I thought you were watching. You're the observant one.

_And how would you know that?_

I have all your memories, or have you forgotten?  
_  
Well why haven't I gotten any of yours yet?_

Hey, if I had some to share with you I would, believe me.

We came to a halt in front of an obnoxiously over-decorated door. Not only was a wild snake pattern carved into it, but there were flowers everywhere. The smell was overpowering.

"Ok, we're here. You can go in now, just remember that we're right outside the door. So don't try anything funny."

"You aren't going to strip search me?"

"Huh?"

I sighed. "Never mind."

I walked up to the door and knocked, the sound resonated loud and clear. The hard wood carried a sweet note throughout the halls. The door seemed to open by itself. It didn't screech or anything, which was weird because of its immense size.

"Come in."

A woman's voice rang through the hall even more sweetly than the door. The cleric's eyes sparkled in delight.

"Seriously dude, calm down."

The cleric blushed again while the students behind him chuckled to themselves. I walked inside, and the cleric shut the doors behind me a little bit harder than he needed to. Yian coughed and collapsed on my head. I guess the smell was getting to him too.  
_  
You ok?_

Yeah sure, let's just get this over with.

We walked into the room. It actually as bad inside as it was out. The room was relatively big compared to the hospital room I was in before. There were two big leather chairs and a matching leather sofa, surrounding a simple yet fitting center table. On the back wall were two large windows which filled the room with light. On the left and right walls were two identical doors.

"To the left."

I walked into the door of what I assume was her office. It was even more modest than the previous room. There was one desk in front of a window to the right. Behind the desk was a slender cloth chair. To the left were two chairs propped up against the wall. The door split the room into two equal parts; equaling about 6 feet long in total.

Standing by the window was a woman, a cleric. She wore a flowing robe that I couldn't identify, it was probably custom made. She didn't carry a staff or wand, but there were two hanging on the wall over the window, which for some reason I didn't notice before. She had long brown hair and calm, gray eyes. In all, she looked like the kind of person you would want to follow without being asked.

She walked behind her desk and sat down.

"Please, have a seat."

I sat down in one of the chairs in the back of the room that faced the desk. She sat there for a while, just staring at me. I got a little bit uncomfortable, her eyes seemed like they were boring into my mind. My eyes gradually started to avoid hers and dart around the room. On the wall was painting of Hans Heal, the father of modern medical magic. He was in all of the history books back in school.

He was one of the fiercest mages of his time, he mastered the techniques of ice and lightning by the time he was fourteen. Then, there was the first Great War between all of the four classes. Hans was in the front line, taking down thousands of thieves and bowmen with each swing of his wand, until an arrogant young assassin managed to get behind him. He was shot several times in the legs and back with the assassin's stars. He crumpled to the floor, but was saved from any further damage by his young apprentice named Grendel.

By the time he got back to Ellina and was treated it was too late, he was paralyzed for life. He still was able to use magic, but he would never be as powerful as he was before. There in Ellina, he became obsessed with trying to regain his mobility. It was rumored that he worked side by side with the gods to find a cure for his paralysis. One day when he was alone in his room, he picked up his wand in frustration. All of his anger, his despair began to bubble up to the surface as he remembered how powerful he used to be. He lashed out with the wand, trying to strike out at something, anything that could break. Something had to suffer along with him. Instead of the familiar shards of ice appearing, the wand exploded in his face. He flew into the wall and fell unconscious.

When he woke up he was still alone, in the same spot as he was before. However now he felt better than he did before. He explained the feeling as if all his negative emotions were expelled from his body when the wand exploded. He felt calm. But what happened next was truly a miracle.

Out of the corner of his eye Hans saw a small mouse crawling along the floor, heading towards him. Its leg was bleeding and he stumbled quite awkwardly, obviously in pain. Hans felt such compassion towards the creature. When it reached his hand he slowly picked it up, still sore from the explosion. It struggled in his hands but then relaxed, exhausted of its energy. All Hans wanted now was to see the mouse healed. He couldn't seem to bare the sight of someone is worse pain than he was. All Hans remembered was feeling his energy travel out through his hand and into the mouse. The wound on its leg started to glow with a green light, and soon it was no more. He put the mouse back on the floor and watched it scamper away, not caring how its injury was miraculously healed.

For days Hans tried to replicate the same magic on himself, but it was in vain. He kept his power a secret, not wanting to be taken advantage of. He used most of his time working on ways to refine his technique. He used whatever random animal would happen to wander into his room. This was how he lived, until one day Grendel was wounded in battle with the warriors. His left arm was cleanly severed off and there was little hope of reattaching it. Hearing the news Hans quickly teleported to the hospital. To make a long story short(er), he used his new power to heal Grendel's arm.

Soon word of the miracle working Hans spread throughout the four towns. Injured warriors from all over began to come to him for healing. Hans did it gladly, because all of the hatred in him had disappeared with the explosion. His skill increased over the years, and soon he didn't even need to be in contact with the patients in order to heal them. He could sit in the middle of a crowd and heal them all at once. He taught all of this magic to his pupil Grendel, in order to prevent the healing to stop after he died. Later in his career he went on to create other healing techniques, and even managed to bring a soldier back to life. He was a true hero, and his efforts of peace helped to end the war that had raged on for so long. Three weeks after the war ended, at least 200 years ago, Hans disappeared. Search parties were sent from all four of the towns, but they came up with nothing. Soon the top researchers from Orbis and Aquarius were involved in the search, but still they could find no trace of him.

Most of the paintings of him were stunning; the artist's renditions of him seemed to make him look like the perfect being. A god even. This is mostly because no artist ever got the chance to sit near him and get an accurate portrait. Most of them were put together by artists who got a glimpse of him through a crowd, or who had someone who saw him describe his features. But this particular painting seemed to bother me. I don't know what it was, but it didn't seem right.

"Echo."

My attention slowly slipped away from the painting and back to her calm, understanding eyes.

"Tell me what you see."

"Excuse me?"

"You must have noticed something interesting by now, unless you make a practice of staring out into space when you're in a room with other people."

_Was I staring?_

"I'm sorry; it's just that painting... it doesn't look right to me."

"How so?"

"I'm not sure..."

I looked at it closely. His face didn't seem to be as... perfect as it was in the text books. His ears were bigger, and so was his nose. His eyebrows were slightly too high on his face, giving him a surprised look. His skin was also darker than in the text books, a tan maybe? His eyes seemed much kinder, gentler, like he truly adopted the concept of "love thy neighbor." In all he looked... human.

"What kind of paint is that?"

"How would I know, I didn't paint it."

"You're an educated woman, I'm sure you've seen plenty of paintings before in your lifetime. Surely you would be able to tell what kind of paint was used on a painting as simple as that."

She blushed. People who are easily flattered are so easily manipulated. For shame.

"I really wouldn't know, but if I had to guess I would say acrylic."

"Yes, that would make sense. But this painting seems a little too precise for that. Almost like a photograph. Acrylic paint tends to leave slight variations in the paper. For each artist these variations are different, but constant. Almost like a painter's fingerprint. Even if there is no caption or signature on the painting, an experienced artist can look at another painting and tell exactly who painted it. However, on this painting, there are no variations. The only paint that can do that is graphic paint, and that wasn't invented until... what... 10, 20 years ago?"

Just for a second a look of panic and surprise flashed across her face, but in an instant she regained control and looked at me with the same calm expression as before, only now it seemed more labored.

"What's your point? Artists are constantly coming out with new artwork ever year. Who's to say someone didn't just try and make a clearer copy of a previous painting?"

You could tell by her tone that she was hiding something.

"Well if you've seen all of the older paintings of Hans Heal, then you would know all of them look fake. And-"

She interrupted me. "All the more reason to release a new painting."

"Hans Heal is not beloved by the public anymore. When the first paintings came out, everyone tried their hand at making one, but no one could ever watch him for long enough to get an accurate picture. Although there are slight variations from artist to artist, all of the paintings of him are glorified, making him look more like a god then a man. This painting is like none I have ever seen before. His face is so real; it looks as if someone took a photograph of him. And his eyes, they have a type of vibrancy that could only be captured by someone who truly knew and loved him. Everyone knows that in the Great War Hans didn't have a wife, or children. The only person who he was close to was Grendel, but he was the studious, not the artistic type."

"You talk like you know him."

"You talk like you have something to hide."

This obviously startled her. I don't know if it was the fact that I was a student talking so arrogantly to the head cleric, or the fact that I was close to revealing a close, personal secret of hers.

"You're parents did a crappy job of teaching you manners."

_My parents?_

"I don't know my parents." She looked even more distressed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't..."

"It's ok. I don't mind. I know growing up hiding the existence of your father must have been hard on you too."

The look on her face held traces surprise, despair, and... joy.

"So the rumors about you are true."

Her voice sounded slightly unstable.

"Rumors?"

"Don't be so modest, you know people talk about you."

"So if Hans is alive, that would mean that he has found the secret to immortality, or at least extremely long life."

"That much is obvious." She was obviously recovering, and quickly too.

"That's huge. If he knows how to achieve eternal life, then there's no telling what he could do. I mean, if you could make someone immortal, couldn't you also make them impervious to injuries? Then you could create a sup-"

Suddenly I realized why she wanted to see me.

"You're going to experiment this process on me aren't you."

"Bravo. Bravo. I would have never expected you to discover both secrets in one day."

"Don't mock me."

Yian growled a little bit, but half heartedly. I could easily see that he was excited.

"Why me?"

"We can't make you impervious to injuries, that's basically impossible. But Hans has developed a method to make any would you may get in battle heal instantly, without the aid of a cleric. We've tried it on two other students before you."

"And what happened to them?"

"... Let's just say they couldn't handle the procedure. In order for this to work your body needs to adsorb huge amounts of energy. The pain will be almost intolerable, but there is almost no question about whether you will come out alive or not."

She's lying.

_What?_

There is only a sixty percent chance that your body can hold all of the energy required. But I don't think they are factoring in the fact that I'm here.

_What?_

We're basically two forms of the same being. If the energy is too much for you, I can carry the excess until you're ready for it. And to answer your question from before, I did bite your arm. But it wasn't my fault. I needed some way to establish our connection.

_By burning me?_

That was the only way I could fully gain all of your memories, and give you mine.

_But I don't have any of your memories._

Didn't I already explain this to you? It's because before Lucida's find our masters, were basically empty vessels. The only sense we have is the one we use to seek out potential masters.

_So we are really like one being._

Yes we are.

"Ok Head Cleric-"

"You can call me Jess."

"Ok, Jess, I'll do it, even though I know there is only a 60 percent success rate."

Her face went deathly pale.

"How did you kn-"

"Don't worry about it. When do we start?"

Her eyebrow raised suggestively. "How's right now for you?"


	7. The Cleric

_**Echo Chapter 6**_

_The Cleric_

* * *

**Interesting how events are playing out. I had no idea he would be this promising when I recommended him.**

**Don't try and take credit, you may have recommended him, but I'm the one who makes him earn his keep.**

**Call it what you will, but you can't doubt his worth. Especially now that he has his own Lucida.**

**Lucida's are worthless unless they are trained correctly.**

**Is someone a little bit jealous of the child prodigy?**

**Everyone who gets into the school is a prodigy.**

**I'll be expecting you to prove that today.**

**That's if he survives.**

**For your sake he better.**

**Is that a threat?**

**No, it's a promise.**

* * *

Jess lead us through another complex series of mazes. I didn't even try to keep track of where we were going this time. It was hard enough to walk in a straight line. No time or energy for multitasking.

_She could have at least healed my legs before we started walking._

Stop thinking and walk faster.

_Easy for you to say. Get off my head and walk for yourself._

Make me. Oh wait, you can't.

He did one of his growling laughs. Jess looked back at me and I grinned slightly.

_That took more energy than it was worth._

Then don't do it.

_I wasn't asking a question, I was making a statement._

Your point?

_No more talking._

I'm not talking, I'm thinking. It's not my fault if you're eavesdropping on my private thoughts.  
_  
You have an answer for everything don't you._

Surprisingly I do. Just one more thing Lucidas can do better than humans.

We kept walking for a while more until we came to another decorated door. The design on this one was of two snakes coiling around a magicians staff. On the top of the staff was the skull of some horned animal. It was creepy and beautiful at the same time.

"Ok, Echo, here we are."

"I figured as much, you know, because of the whole we stopped moving and started staring at a door thing."

"You don't have to be sarcastic."

"Well you don't have to tell me things that I already know." She sighed and opened the door.

"Wait here for a second." She walked in and closed the door behind her a bit harder than she needed too. A few seconds later she reopened the door.

"You can come in now."

The room was small. Extremely small. Most likely the smallest room in the whole school, or hospital, or where ever I was. On the ceiling was a small skylight. In the center there was a small cot like structure, and on the wall there was a small cubby with several medical tools hanging out of it. At least they looked like medical tools. How would I know what medical tools look like?

Besides those two things there was only really room for two people, unless one was lying on the bed.

"Lie down now."

"Not even an explanation?"

"Just do it."

I climbed up onto the bed. I instantly started to feel nauseous. The ceiling was just too close to my face. It really took a lot of concentration to fight my gag reflex.

"How long is this going to take?"

Almost on cue, a blue light flashed above my head. A man appeared where the light originated from. He had brown hair, slightly darker than Jes' and the same eyes. He wore glasses that were teetering at the end of his nose and skull earrings. He carried the same staff as the one carved into the door, however instead of two snakes, there was a single ribbon wrapping around it, coming to an end at the head of the staff.

"Is this him?" The man asked.

"Yeah. . . unfortunately." replied Jess with a half sigh, half groan.

"What do you mean unfortunately?"

"Shut. Up." Jess snapped.

The man raised an eye brow.

"Relationship troubles?"

Jes sighed again. "Whatever, lets just get this over with."

"So you're Hans?"

"Shut up and lie down." He frowned.

"Okay. . . whatever."

"Here drink this." He handed me a bottle of green liquid.

"What's this?"

"Shut up and drink it."

"I thought you were supposed to be kind."

"I said shut up and drink it!"

You probably should just do what he says. . .  
_  
Wow... it's amazing how your comments get progressively more useful._

Is that sarcasm?  
_  
Yes. Yes it is._

I drank the liquid cautiously, well, as cautiously as you can be when drinking a possibly fatal liquid. It tasted like watermelon. Well, what watermelons would taste like if they suddenly started tasting like crap.

"Bleh. What is this stuff?" I wiped my mouth vigorously with the back of my hand.

"Stop asking questions and lie back down. Please."

"Thank you, was it too much to ask for a little courtesy."

"Don't test me. Take off your shirt."

"I'm sorry Hans but I think it would be better if we just stayed friends."

"Huh?"

It was my turn to sigh. "Never mind."

I slowly pulled the shirt over my head and released the wrist trainers. Hans walked over to the side of the bed, holding a bowl of foul smelling black liquid.

"What is-?"

"I have things to do. . . are you going to question everything I do, or can I just do my job?"

I resisted my urge to make another sarcastic comment. He dipped two fingers in the liquid and started drawing complex symbols on my chest and stomach. The liquid felt slippery. When my chest was almost full of symbols he drew a small circle and placed his hand inside of it.

"I'm going to start the procedure now. This may hurt a little bit."

Jess walked out of the room and Yian started to follow her.  
_  
Where are you going?_

I'll be right on the other side of the door if you need me.

As soon as the door closed Hans' hand began to glow a green light. At first it felt warm, then hot, then burning. The symbols on my chest began to feel like each was boring into my skin. The burning pain traveled through my body, completely engulfing me in pain. It hurt so bad it was impossible to cry out in pain. Imagine that a chief bandit forced you to swallow one million mesos, in coins, and then proceeded to explode each one inside your body, one at a time, while a mage was attacking you with lightning and a warrior was stabbing you continuously with a sword. If you multiplied that by 874.373 that would be about half of what I was feeling.

Ech. . . . I. . . re. . . d. .n. . .rry

I could barely hear my own thoughts, never mind Yian's. The pain was overwhelming. I slowly felt my self slipping away. Heading toward the darkness...

Slowly I came to my senses. The room seemed much brighter than before, but just as small. Oddly the nauseating feeling didn't come back. I sat up rather quickly. I braced myself for the same pain that occurred when I tried that in the hospital room, but the pain never came. I looked around the room. It looked relatively the same, but the door was basically incinerated down the middle, and the two halves lay lazily on the floor, still smoldering. Who could have done something like that?

I think I did.

The thought sounded scared, if that's even possible.

_Yian, is that you?_

No, just the other creature that has somehow managed to develop a psychic link with you.  
_  
I see your sense of humor is intact. Where are you?_

I don't know. . . it's really dark in here.

_Where were your last?_

The last thing I remember is feeling how in pain you were and cutting through the door, I touched your shoulders and then I ended up here.

I got up and looked around the room. Everything else looked in tact.

"Echo?"

"Jess? Is that you?"

She ran over and gave me a hug.

"I'm so glad you survived."

I could have sworn I saw a tear run down her cheek.

"Hey, like you said, I survived no need to smother me."

She got back up and regained her composure.

"Do you know where Yian went? He broke the door and ran inside but I can't seem to find him anywhere."

"No I don't. We can find him later, but for now follow me." She walked out of the room without further explanation. I jumped out of bed and ran after her.

_Wait a minute. . . weren't my legs killing me a second ago? Wow, whatever they did to me really worked._

She led me down a long corridor that I didn't see when I walked in here. We seemed to be walking away from the light provided by all the windows in the hall. As we continued walking something began to bother me. If we were walking away from the light, then shouldn't my shadow be in front of me? Yet it wasn't there.

As soon as I though of it, a shadow slithered around my leg and in front of me in its usual position.

"Holy crap, what the hell is going on here?!" Jes turned around, obviously puzzled about my awfully lame outburst.

"Did you just see that?"

That was me.

"You?!" Jes looked even more confused.

Stop yelling. Somehow I got stuck in your shadow and I don't know how to get out.  
_  
Can you see?_

I can if you let me borrow your eyes. On that note my temples began to tingle, then it was over.  
_  
Is that it?_

Yeah, that's it. Let's go.

_Ok. . . never, ever, do that again._

"Let's go Jes."

"Are you ok Echo. . ."

"Yeah, I'm fine, let's go."

We continued walking down the hallway until we came to a huge opening in the wall.

"In here."

We walked into the room. It was pitch black. A blue light temporally blinded me, but not for as long as I would have imagined. When I looked over, Jess was gone.

I stood there, listening intently for any sounds that might indicate where Jess had teleported off to.

I have a bad feeling about this.

_As do I._

What's with that? Trying to get all cryptic now?

_Shut up it's a dark room, and I have no idea where I am. . . I'm just trying to get into the moment._

Yeah . . . well don't next time.

I stood patiently in the room waiting for Jess' arrival.  
_  
Was the room this hot when we got in here?_

No, actually I've just noticed it myself; the heat has been rising for a while now.  
_  
How hot do you think it will get?_

No idea but I don't like the looks of this.

_The heat you mean?_

No. . . the looks.

_But it's pitch black in here how can you see anything?_

I said the looks!

Now the heat was beginning to become unbearable. Suddenly I heard a knock on the opposite wall. I ran over to it, and after finding where the sound was coming from, I tapped back. As soon as my hand touched the wall, the tapping sound stopped.

"So. . . you ready?"

"For what?"

"To die of course."

A sinister chuckle is heard from the wall.

Get back!

I obeyed Yian's command. It was a good thing I did, because if I had lingered there for even a second longer I would have been punched by the fist that violantly ripped through the wall. Barely a second after breeching the wood the fist opened up and shot a fireball towards me. I was able to dodge by a hairs width, still feeling the intense heat as it rushed past me. I heard it burn right through the opposite wall. I unsheathed my dagger and lunged at the hand, but the hand withdrew causing me to slice through thin air. The dagger felt unusually light in my hands. I bent over to look into the hole in the wall. As I peered through, the man on the other side forced his hand through the wall once again, this time maybe a foot above my neck. Before I even realized what happened the hand grabbed my neck and lifted me off the ground. The hand pulled me through the wall and into the next room, smashing my small body into a large cabinet on the far left side of the room. I hit the cabinets so hard that I actually made a hole in the wall. A shard of wood was lodged deep into my back.

"Some know me as Jin the Ferocious... but most just call me Jin."

"Oh. . . I'm. . ."

"I know who you are. . . you are Echo. . ."

I clapped as sarcastically as I could possibly manage.

"Good job did you figure that out all by yourself?"

"No. . . I looked it up." Jin frowned.

I got up and felt a sharp pain in my back. I turned my head around and gazed at the shard of wood sticking out behind me. As I turned, Jin took out the hilt of a blade, and began to focus. As he did a small flame ignited itself on the hilt, growing to the length of a blade. The intense flame caused the air around it to pop. I pulled out the shrapnel and turned back around just in time to dodge Jin's sword. As I dodged, I quickly ducked down and cut Jin's left leg. I then jumped away and readied myself for the next attack. Jin turned back towards me and noticed the gash in his leg.

"When the hell did you do that!?"

"After you tried to burn me with that oversized match of yours."

They don't get much dumber than that.

"Ha, that's funny, coming from a Lucida who can't even get out of it's master's shadow."

"You can hear him?"

"I can do a lot of things."

Jin bent down and put his fingers in the gash to see how deep it went. He then spread the flesh apart, letting blood drip onto his fingers.

What the hell is he doing!?  
_  
I have no idea but I think he's crazy._

"Hm. . . well. . . no matter, a small cut is the price I pay for having a bit of fun."

A wide smile crossed Jin's face.  
_  
This guy is insane!_

Your telling me.

_Yeah, I am._

"How about this, since the gap between our power is so vast, I will let you cut me for 20 seconds, anywhere you want."

"You sure about that? I cut to kill."

"Well why don't you come at me 'cause your wasting your time."

I quickly contemplated the most efficient and effective way to kill Jin. I rushed at him, dagger poised to slash through his collar bone. I jumped high and brought my dagger down with all the force I could muster. The blade smacked into Jin's neck, and almost stopped in its tracks. It was almost like cutting through rock. Shock began to flow through my body. I had never encountered this type of power before, how was this man so strong? Why am I not able to cut him? Am I not strong enough? Or was there really that huge of a difference in our power?

Jin laughed menially.

What the hell is going on!?  
_  
I don't know and I don't want to find out._

I took back my blade and slashed at his chest with all his might, producing a large cut. I cut through his flesh four more times and jumped back.

"19, and 20… You're lucky you jumped back, if you hadn't I would have burnt you to a crisp."

"It doesn't matter."

"Hm...?" Jin stole a quick glance at my back, and realized it wasn't bleeding anymore.

"I see you have some sort of healing ability. Don't think you're special, I can heal too. Well, it's not really healing it's just a way for me to prevent blood loss, and the only thing that's left behind are scars."

"Well that's not really healing then is it?"

"Just watch."

Jin mumbled something under his breath. Steam began to rise from his wounds; blood stopped dripping from them and soon all that was left over were scars, just as he said.

"What the hell are you!?"

"I'm an adept, and so are you, not only that but you have a stronger power than me, you just haven't mastered it yet."

"And you have?"

"Nope, I've been trainin' for 4 years and I've only got the basics of my powers down, but that's only because my power is so devastating."

Jin threw a series of fireballs at my feet. I jumped into the air to avoid them, but before I landed, Jin threw several more at the ceiling.

"Good aim… you missed every single shot."

"Wasn't aiming for you buddy."

I looked up and down and saw that he had made a perfect square of fire above and below me. I looked over at Jin and saw that he was hunched over in concentration. He once again mumbled words that happened to seem much more complex then the one's from before. After no more than a second, my view was obscured by flame that connected the two squares of fire on the floor and ceiling, making, in a sense, a gigantic cage of fire. Jin then began to tighten the cage, and slowly it traveled closer and closer to my skin.

"It's over."

The cage was less than a hairs width from my skin now. In a matter of seconds I would be engulfed in flames, and eventually, incinerated.


	8. The Guild

**_Echo Chapter 7_**

_The Guild_

* * *

**Is it really wise to set Jin against Echo so quickly?**

**Of course it is. I know what I'm doing.**

**We both know what he's capable of... don't you have promises to keep to certain people regarding his safety.**

**Who are you referring to?**

**Your current student...**

**Right... I suppose I could intervene before it's too late.**

**Were you actually planning on just letting them fight?**

**Well...**

**Are you mad? This is Jin we're talking about.**

**He's not that bad...**

**Right. We'll see about that.**

* * *

The flames crept ever closer to my skin. Even before they reached me, the heat accelerated the life cycles of blisters all over by body, growing and exploding in the matter of seconds. The feeling was sickening, excess puss, water, and blood poured from my wounds and into quickly evaporating pools at my feet. The healing wasn't working fast enough to keep the wounds closed; the fire kept burning deeper and deeper, until it completely burned through my blistered layer of skin. I tried to stay as quiet as possible, to reserve as much energy as I could to speed up the healing process.

"Enough!"

The voice of Hans interrupted the sound of burning flesh. Jin looked up from his concentrated trance and the cage of fire extinguished itself. Hans slowly walked over to me, obviously in no sort of rush. My skin was busy trying to repair itself with the new found magic flowing through my veins. Hans kneeled down and examined my wounds, which was no easy task. They literally covered my entire body. Every burn was emitting a dull green glow.

"I'm impressed with the success of the procedure. I wouldn't expect it to be working so well within a few hours of completion." Hans touched my forehead, which caused so small amount of pain, and a green light filled the room. When the light dulled my skin was completely healed. "No need for you to waste all of your energy healing yourself. Of course the rate and power of the healing is based on your own energy levels, so the stronger you get the more you can heal. Eventually you will also be able to heal other people, as long as you're willing to take their wound apon yourself."

Hans turned and faced Jin. "I think you went a little overboard with the battle. Were you trying to kill him?"

"Hah, I wanted to see if you'd come through on your promise." Hans scoffed and turned back to me.

"You did very well, especially against an opponent as experienced as Jin. Most are destroyed by him in the first 15 seconds of the battle. I have a special reward for you, meet me in my office."

Hans teleported away, and I turned to fac Jin.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Hans' office is?"

"It's in the same room as the Head Cleric's." I turned away and started walking out of the room.

"What, no thank you?"

I turned and faced Jin, ever so slowly. "I will defeat you . . . eventually." With that I ran off to find Hans.

* * *

Eventually I found the flowery room and charged inside, I wasn't really that eager, I was just exhausted with all these surprises. I just hoped this wasn't another battle. I don't think I could handle another one. I walked into the room on the right, the room that obviously wasn't Jess'. The office was set up identically to Jess' with the exception of the staves over the window and the lack of flowers. Hans was sitting at his desk.

"Please, come in." I walked in and took a seat in one of the free chairs. "Would you like something to drink; I know you must be thirsty after nearly getting burned to death."

"Is that a joke?"

"No, I'm offering you something to drink."

"Oh . . . well in that case I'll take a cup of water."

"We don't have any water."

"What do you mean you don't have water?"

"What deeper meaning could there possibly be? We don't serve water here, get over it."

"Well can I have a glass of milk then?"

"Milk?"

"Oh come on . . . what do you have then?"

"We have lattes?"

". . . Iced lattes?"

"No, we don't have ice either."

"How do you not have ice!?"

"Budget cuts."

"So you can afford lattes but not water. . ."

"Well we collect our own lattes from the mountain up there." He gestured out the window.

"You've got to be kidding me . . . why can't you just have an Ice Lightning make some ice for you."

"That's an awfully good idea; we'll get right on it. But in the mean time let's get to the real reason why I've called you here." He leaned in close, brushing away a few papers on the desk. "You're excelling. Based information we've gathered about you, you can't really learn much more from basic training. I can already tell your mastery of daggers is above average, same with your attack speed. I've decided to move you into a guild."

"What! I've only been here for a few days and the normal age for joining a guild is sixteen. I'm only thirteen!"

"Well arguing about it won't change anything. You've already been admitted." He reached under his desk and pulled out a stack of clothing, with a card of some sort on top.

"You have been accepted into the Leaf Guild. You will be joining them ASAP. Here are your standard issue clothes; and you'll have to earn your own weapon. Also here is your status card. Your card can assess your progress in battle and give you a real time status report on your skills, techniques and rank when inserted into your desk. It also gives you the authority to enter The Mind as often as you like via the many stations around the campus. You'll find your desk in your locker in the Leaf Dormitory. Oh, and that card also has a holo map in it, so use that to find you way to the dorms. That's it."

He picked up the papers on his desk and swiveled around is his chair, facing the window. I knew based on his posture that he would not answer any more of my questions. I scurried out of the office and into the hallway.

Congratulations.

_Yeah. . . right._

You probably should change out of those clothes now.

He was right. My clothes were almost rags now, barely hanging off by a thread due to the fight with Jin. I awkwardly tore the clothes off of my body, and slipped on the crisp new black and green Leaf Guild Outfit.

_Wow this fits nicely._

The outfit looked casual yet official at the same time. The shirt was all black with green straps down the middle to keep it closed. The pants were also black with green cuffs and a long loose green cloth belt. The shoes were leather and were obviously new based on the squeaking sound they made with step. The green bandana, decorated with a white skull, gave a nice, yet threatening touch to the outfit.

I bent down and picked up the card I dropped on the floor while changing. On it was a very artistic drawing of a leaf.

_I wonder how you're supposed to get the map out._ I rubbed my thumb on the leaf and instantly a yellowish light started to glow underneath my finger. When I moved my thumb aside, a large, hologram of a map burst into existence. On the map was a green arrow that started from an enlarged point and twisted around the halls.

Ok, well I'm assuming that's the map, and the green dot is where you are now.

Since the clothes were the best fitting ones I've ever had, I decided not to be mean and rely with a sarcastic comment and just follow the arrow.

* * *

I arrived at the door to the Leaf Dormitory. The door, predictably, had the same artistic picture of a leaf engraved in the wood. I tried to turn the door handle but it wouldn't budge.

Try the card.

I looked at the side of the door frame. There was a small slot, about the width of the card, next to both a red and green colored light. I inserted the card and the green light lit up, and a perfectly concealed speaker announced: Welcome to Leaf Dormitory, Echo. I heard the sound of a heavy latch being undone, and the doors flung open, giving me my first view of my living quarters.

It was nothing as I would have expected. The floor was completely covered in loose, damp looking soil. From that, several trees were growing, close to the walls and through the ceiling. Attached to those trees were several hammocks, and inside of the hammock was a number painted in green. They ranged from one to twenty. The walls were painted with a detailed 360 degree mural of one of the more popular training fields in Henesys. In the center of the room were several tables make from polished wood, stumps of trees were surrounding the tables to act as natural chairs. In all it was a breathtakingly well designed room..

In total, nineteen people populated the room. There were about six girls, and the rest were boys. At the moment, all of them were sitting in the center of the room, talking amongst themselves casually in a way only close friends are capable of. The moment I stepped inside, however, everyone silenced themselves and turned in my direction.

One boy hopped up from his seat with a huge grin on his face. He had long straight brown hair and was wearing a similar outfit to mine. He had a formidable looking bow on his back, so I assumed he was wearing the bowman variety of the guild outfit.

"You lost or something?" he asked cheerfully with a cautious undertone. I looked at him curiously. I _was_ wearing the guild uniform after all.

"Umm no. . . I was just assigned to Leaf Guild." He raised an eyebrow.

"So you're the guy replacing Ol' Jake." He held his hand above my head, then his, obviously mocking my size. When he realized there actually wasn't much of a difference when I stood up straight, she sheepishly put his hand back in his pocket. "You look kind of young for a guild. Did you just get released from training or something?"

"Actually, yeah. I was kinda of surprised too, you know, my age and everything."

"Well, how old are you?"

"Thirteen." When I said that everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me even more curiously. Some started to surround me, bombarding me with questions.

"Are you really thirteen?"

"Why did they promote you?"

"What class are you supposed to be?"

"What rank are you?"

"Are you going to be our new leader?"

"Want to catch a movie some time?"

One boy who was showing off his obsessively polished zard walked up to me confidently and poked me in the chest.

"What do you think you're doing here?"

"I was promoted. . . kinda like I just said."

"Who do you think you're talking to?"

"You. . . didn't you just ask me a question? Or am I mistaken?" Several of the students who were crowding around me laughed.

"Are you trying to make a fool out of me?"

"I wasn't trying. . . I guess it comes naturally." Some of the ones who weren't laughing before were definitely laughing now.

"Okay, that's it." The boy spat with a sneer. He grabbed my by the shirt, pulling me uncomfortably close. "If you think you belong here you're going to have to prove it." He dragged me to the hammock in the back that had the number 20 painted on it. "Get your card." He basically threw me on the hammock. The cloth chafed my stomach a bit, but it healed almost instantly.

On the wall was a small lock, like the ones in the trainee dorms, the only difference was that there was a slot on the wall similar to the one outside the dorm.

"Go on."

I stuck my finger in the lock and instantly the door clicked and my card was ejected from the slot in the wall. I guess once you open the lock the only way to get it back is through a locker. I clicked the locker shut and took my card. The boy grabbed my shirt from the back and started pushing me to the door. The boy who started talking me first looked slightly concerned.

"Hey, umm, where you takin' him?"

"Battle room." With this everyone in the dorm filed out of the room and started following us. The first boy had a nervous look on his face.

"Maybe you shouldn't. . . he is only thirteen."

"Maybe _you_ shouldn't take it apon yourself to protect every loser who walks in the door. If he truly belongs here then he shouldn't die."

"But he hasn't even had a chance to get a new weapon yet."

"If you don't like it you don't have to come."

"So what you're saying is, your taking a thirteen year old new recruit into the battle room, who hasn't even gotten a new weapon yet, to beat him up. Wow, you sure are impressive. " He stopped dragging me for a second and glared at the boy. It was a pathetic attempt to unnerve him, but I am ashamed to say it worked.

"If you have a problem with it, you come and fight me." For a second the boy held his ground, and then he fell back into the crowd. He was staring into my eyes, giving me a look that seemed to say, "Be careful."

* * *

After being dragged through the halls for over ten minutes we finally came to a massive door. And when I say massive I mean, at least four times as big as the giant gate to the ship I came in on. On the wall to the right of the door was a holo projector, and under that was a slot, which I now know if for status cards. The boy pushed me toward the projector. He walked to the wall on the opposite side off the door, which had the same setup as the side I was now facing. I looked down. On the floor was a chrome platform. I stepped up onto it, and the boy did the same at his station. As soon as this was done, the holo projector came to life.

The face of a young man appeared in the familiar golden light. Even though it was a projection, it was still kind of weird to have it stare at you like that.

"Enter you card." A voice boomed out of giant speaker, which I assumed was next to the projector. It took me back a little bit. So I hesitated. I could hear a slight murmur travel through the crowd of boys around me.

"Enter your card, please." The projected head repeated itself. I slowly entered my card into the slot and braced for the worse.

"Welcome to the Battle Room, Echo. Your opponent for the current battle is Kiel Denmari. This will be a one on one battle, in which there are no rules. Step to the door now."

I stepped down from the platform and walked over to the right side of the gigantic door and prepared for whatever was about to happen. I was hardly prepared.

The doors swung wide open and I got my first glimpse of the Battle Room. It was huge. Humungous even. It had to be at least one square mile, and that's at the _least_. The inside looked exactly like the field I used to train in near Henesys, complete with the giant maple trees and lion grass. A blue light erupted from Kiel's feet, and he disappeared, I assumed he was thrust somewhere inside of the battle room. Directly after that a blue light surrounded me, and I found myself standing in a very large patch of overgrown grass.

I unsheathed my dagger and cut through some of the grass so I could get a scope of where I was. When I emerged I was slightly shocked. The room was big enough not only to include the field, but a whole section of forest from Ellina. The trees seemed to stretch upwards and onward forever. Intertwined branches made study ramps for climbing. I decided to climb up one of the trees so I could get a view of the whole field, and hopefully spot Kiel before he spotted me.

I picked out a tree that was hidden from view from the field and from most of the forest. If I needed to I could always jump from tree to tree. Since climbing all those ramps would take forever, I decided to just climb the tree alone. I gripped by dagger between my teeth and started to climb. It surprised me how easy it was on my body. My new healing power alleviated all the burning of my muscles as I was climbing the tree so I felt as if I could climb for days on end.

I got about 50 meters up before surveying the area. I stuck my dagger into the tree and hoisted myself up onto a branch-ramp that connected the tree I was climbing and the one next to it. I sat down and looked around. I was right; the field was almost exactly the same as the one I used to train in. This section of Ellina was completely foreign to me though. I never made an actual trip there before; I only read about it in books. I saw a shadow dash from behind a maple tree about 15 meters from my tree. If I jumped down I could land behind him and attack from behind, but that probably wouldn't be wise. His armor looked pretty impenetrable, at least impenetrable by my flimsy dagger.

_Yian, you know how to move while you're stuck in my shadow right?_

Yeah I can try it, why?

_Could you go down and scout for me. I just need to know what his plans are._

I could just read his mind from here you know.

_Well can you. . ._

Well since you asked so. . . yeah, I can. I waited for a second. He still doesn't know where you are, if that helps at all.

_Hey . . . if you can read minds, and we're basically the same, why can't I do it to?_

Now is hardly the time . . .

_Alright fine, but I'm not letting this go._

I quickly ducked behind a tree. I looked over and saw a bundle of seeds. I don't know what plant they came from, but they looked pretty big, and hard. I picked them up and tossed a few up and down in my hand a couple times, just to see how much they weighed. Basically, they would hurt a lot when dropped from all the way up here.

What are you going to do?

_Well, that guy's obviously a lot stronger than I am._ I thought about my recent fight with Jin. _It wouldn't make much sense to attack head on, one hit with that zard and I'm dead. What I need to do is to distract and disarm him. Then maybe I can find a weakness._

Interesting.

_But first I'm going to need to get him into the forest._ I tossed a seed down to the ground. I couldn't hear the sound it made, but I'm assuming it was noticeable because almost instantly Kiel started to move in that direction, and into my trap. I jumped away from the tree I was perching on to another one a meter away. Kiel ran into the forest, frantically looking around. I threw another seed at him and jumped away. The seed hit him directly in the center of his head.

_Bull's-eye._

Kiel grabbed his head with his free hand, a gesture of pain, and started moving through the forest again. I threw another seed at his hand. He flinched, but left it in place. This time he looked upwards. As soon as he lifted his head I threw another seed at his eye. As far as I can tell it hit, and it hurt. A lot. He started swearing and kicking things, stumbling around like a drunken blind man. I took this opportunity to throw a barrage of seeds at his hand desperately grabbing hold of the zard. His grip relaxed and he dropped the sword.

I sailed down from the tree and landed directly behind him. He bumped into me and swung wildly with his right hand, which definitely caught me by surprise. His fist connected with my chin and I flew backwards, at least 2 meters, and landed in a patch of lion grass. They snapped and growled, but I grabbed a few of their leaves and that shut them up right away. He turned around and glared at me with a wild look in his. . . eye, and headed back for his sword. Before he could reach it, I lunged forward and slid into it, kicking it several feet away.

Still gripping his eye with his left hand, Kiel charged forward, right hand braced for a powerful punch. I jumped over his fist but he was already going too fast to change direction. He continued forward, toward his sword. By the time I realized what was happening he was already grasping it in his bruised hands, obviously infuriated with me. His left eye, the one I hit, was closed, but I saw some kind of cloudy liquid pouring from the eye lid.

He rushed at me again, this time he was too close to jump over. I channeled energy into my dagger and attempted to block his powerful swing. He was fast, but not as fast as I was. Our blades connected, and the impact had my whole body vibrating, even my teeth. I jumped to the right and threw the last of the seeds at his face. He swatted them away, but for a split second he closed his eyes, giving me just enough time to follow through with a strike of my own. I channeled my energy into the dagger again, and attacked his right arm. The first strike barely chipped the metal, but then, all the sudden, my hand flew back and struck again, virtually instantaneously. The second blow caused the shoulder plate to basically explode, some of the shards imbedded into Kiel's skin, the others flew out at me. I cut them all down in midair with surprising accuracy, and jumped over his head, flipping in midair, landing with my back towards him.

When did you learn that?

_Not sure, but I like it._

Kiel screamed out in pain, clutching his arm and almost collapsing to the floor. I lunged at him again but this time he shuffled out of the way before the second attack could hit him. He gripped his sword, holding most of its weight with his left hand, and swung at me again, it was a slowed and less controlled attack, but just as deadly, I jumped backwards out of the way, only to get caught by a second, extremely fast attack. He jumped up and spun around in mid air, bringing his blade down quickly. My dagger was already up to intercept the blow, but the impact sent me sprawling backwards. That attack wasn't as strong as a normal one, but it was still enough to knock me off my feet. Even through his right arm was mostly limp, and he was half blind, he was still a formidable opponent. He rushed at me again bringing in his blade from the left, aiming for my torso. I ducked underneath the blade and tried to attack again, but this time my arm started to lose control. My arm stabbed almost instantly six times in a row, but only two connected. The other four struck all around his body, one barely missing his head. I jumped backwards, doing a back flip and landing on a natural ramp in the trees.

Bleeding from two new wounds in his torso he pathetically stumbled forward, determined to beat me. He hadn't spoken since the fight begun. He dropped his sword, perhaps from exhaustion, and came at me with his fist.

"Please, just give up. If you don't get to a cleric soon you're going to die of blood loss." He glared at me with cold, angry eyes, and continued to throw punches at me; each jerk of his arms sent more blood flying from his wounds. His movements were wild and uncontrolled; his punches were easy to deflect. I soon grew tired of his efforts and punched him square in the jaw. He fell over on his back, breathing hard. I went to pick up his zard, and held it high above his head.

"Fine, if you won't end this, I will."

A quick look of fear flashed across his face as I brought down the blade as fast as I could.

* * *

Lion grass is a type of bug eating plant, native to Henesys, that lures in bugs and small birds with its scent then envelopes it in its bulb. It's similar to a Venus Flytrap, but bigger with teeth, and in some instances can cause danger to humans.


	9. Movin' on up

_**Echo Chapter 8**_

_  
Movin' on up  
_

* * *

**Echo sure is strong.**

**Yeah he is, isn't he.**

**Listen, I know he was you're project, but would you mind if I trained him. I mean, there's so much more that I could teach him, you know, being an adept and all.**

**You just love to rub that in don't you.**

**I'm not trying to insult you Hans. You're an excellent instructor. I mean, look what you've done with Jin.**

**Yes but Jin was never supposed to take a role of real responsibly. He's demented.**

**Yes but. . .**

**Do you not trust me to work with our only hope?**

**First of all, he's not our only hope. That's way to cliché. Second of all, the only reason I want to train with him is because I know how to help him master his adept powers, which no matter how skilled you are, you can't help him with.**

**Fine, but don't scar him for life or anything Demitri.**

**I make no promises.**

* * *

I slammed the sword into the ground, diagonally across Kiel's chest. If he tried to get up, he would have to press his body directly into the deadly sharp blade. He cried out in anger and tried to writhe out from the open side, but I kneeled right next to him and held my dagger to his throat.

"I told you I'd end this. Just surrender now, while you have _some_ dignity left." He continued thrashing around for a while, coming dangerously close to both blades, then relaxed.

"You win." As soon as the words passed through his lips, the blue light surrounded both of us, and I found myself back at the entrance. I looked over to the left, only to see Kiel standing there, looking as if nothing had happened. His sneer was still on his face. The holo projector displayed the same man from before's face. He was smiling broadly.

"Congratulations Echo on your first win!" The head's voice boomed from the speakers. The crowd of people who were standing at the entrance before rushed around me, drowning me with their pats on the back and well wishing. Some of Kiel's friends went over to him, either to ridicule or comfort him. I smiled a little bit, not wanting to be rude, then walked back over the machine to collect my card. It wasn't there.

"You're going to have to get it back at you're locker." I turned around to see who was speaking. It happened to be the boy who tried to help me before. "That's the way most of the things around here work. The loser gets their card back and is supposed to open the door for the winner. It's a kind of no hard feelings thing."

"I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."

"How rude of me. The name's Fye. And you?"

"Echo."

"That's an unusual name."

"And Fye isn't?"

"Touché. Most of the people around here call me Aim."

"Why?"

". . . You know, I never really thought about it before." He scratched his head and laughed. "Whatever. Congrats on the win. That was one heck of a fight. I've never seen someone so new beat a guild member by so much before."

"Thanks." I looked around, and realized the whole crowd was gone by now.

"Mind letting me back in?"

"Oh, no problem."

He walked over to the dorm and unlocked the door, and ushered me inside. As soon as I stepped in the door everyone erupted in a cheer. Then they went back to their normal activities.

"Guess they like you."

I walked back to my locker and grabbed my card. I actually looked inside the locker, and was surprised by what I saw. On the bottom was a polished black metal rectangle with green accents. On the left side of it were a transparent screen and a place to swipe my card. On the other side was a small holo projector.

_My new desk_

I swiped my card in the slot and the desk came to life. The holo projector displayed the same face that was shown at the battle room.

"Welcome Echo!" The voice was extremely loud. I flinched back slightly, but it didn't seem to bother anyone else.

"Yep, it's loud. There're no secrets here." It was Fye, again. He was hanging over the hammock above me. His broad grin was obstructed by his hair which was almost touching my head.

"You really need to do something with your hair."

"What are you, my mother?"

"And how would that work?" He grinned and disappeared into the hammock. I returned my attention back to the desk.

The screen was flashing. On the left side of the screen was a menu bar. The green option tiles on it read: Messages, Skills, Battle Report, Library, Lessons, Ranking, Schedule, and Personal Files. Most of the tiles had a white circle next to the name. In the center of the screen was a tile that said. "Tutorial."

Maybe you should select it.

_Shut up I was about to._

Whatever you say.

I clicked the tutorial button. The face displayed by the holo projector came to life.

"Are you kidding. . . you really need a tutorial. The names speak for themselves." The kids around me laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, I guess we all aren't as gifted as desired." More laughed. I rolled my eyes again.

"I'll explain it as simply as I can. Messages lets you communicate with other students. Skills gives you an update on your progress as a warrior, an up to date run down on all of the techniques you have learned so far. Battle Report logs all of your battles and what skills were used or learned during the battle. Library gives you resource to all of our records and such, given that you have the correct clearance level. Lessons is how our instructors will give you your assignments when you aren't in class. Ranking keeps you informed about how you compare to your fellow students. Schedule is where you can check the order of events for that day. Personal files is where you can store any personal files you may have. When a white dot is next to a tab, that means there is an update. Okay got it? Good." The holo projector turned off. I sighed and looked back down at the screen. All of the tabs except for Library, Lessons, Personal Files, and Schedule had a white dot next to them. I decided I might as well go in order.

I pressed the Messages tab and it expanded, filling the whole screen. In the top corner there was another tab that said "Director." I pressed it and that tab expanded, filling the screen. Instead of a tab, there was a written message, addressed to me obviously. It read:

Hello Echo,

Congratulations on your admission to Leaf Guild. I hope you do well and quickly rise through the ranks.

Although I do love giving complements to new students, that is not the reason why I am writing to you today. I know you did skip through several years of training, I thought you would need to be filled in about guild life.

You may see some of your fellow guild members with impressive looking weapons or clothes you don't have yet. Guild members are given standard clothing and are transferred with the weapons they've had in training. In your case you had to time to earn new weapons as a trainee. Everything in this school has to be earned. There are two ways to do that, taking part in events and doing well in school. Depending on your grades and behavior, you are issued credits every class, which can be applied to a new weapon at the shop. Credits can also be earned by doing some of the work around the school, cooking and cleaning etc. You can also earn a lump sum of credits by winning one of our many guild events. The way to win items directly is by winning one of our single or pair events. The items you get are completely dependent on the time and difficulty of the event, so some day you could win big. Keep a look out for some of those events, usually posted in the Schedule section on your desk.

Classes are tailored to fit your personal needs. There are some core classes everyone takes, but everyone's combat classes are tailored to their needs, as some are strong in one area while others are not. There is also one hour set aside for guild strategy and practice, and that is also posted in your schedule. You are also given three hours of free time during the day, for you to practice on your own, catch up on school work, or take place in one of our many events. Being idle is frowned upon, so always try and _act_ busy, even if you aren't.

Your schedule is being prepared as we speak and will be sent to you by day's end. So for today feel free to take a look around the school and get used to our facilities.

Thanks for you time,  
Director

I closed the letter and opened up the next tab, Skills. On it was a list that read:

Theif Skills-

Nimble Body: 20  
Keen Eyes: 8  
Double Stab: 20

Bandit's Tricks-

Dagger Mastery: 20  
Dagger Booster: 20  
Haste: 20  
Savage Blow: 3

The list didn't make sense. I know I mastered Double Stab and Nimble Body in Basic Training, back on Victoria. But I never remember even experimenting with Keen Eyes, or any Bandit Skills. It must be a mistake.

"That's an odd mixture of skills." It was Fye. "Why'd you learn Keen Eyes if you're not planning on being an assassin?"

"I didn't. The card must be wrong." He laughed.

"The card is never wrong." He jumped down from the hammock and took a seat next to me. "You're just multi-talented." I smiled and returned to the desk. I closed out the Skills section and entered the Battle Report. There was one tab in the top left corner that had today's date on it. I pressed it and it filled the screen.

Date: August 27

Time: 14:17

Opponent: Kiel Denmari

Outcome: Victorious

Position: 17th

Skills: Savage Blow – 3, Dagger Booster – 2, Haste – 1

"Wow, you learned all that from one battle?" He whistled. "Impressive. Very impressive." I even had to admit it was odd, to learn so much in one battle. It did seem like I was moving faster than normal, and that last attack was much different that Double Stab. The strain on the arm was incredible.

I looked up and saw Kiel, in the bed next to mine, violently ripping things out of his locker and throwing them at me. I jumped up from the bed and flipped over, landing on one hand. I pushed my self upright. Several people were looking at me. I walked over to Kiel.

"Is there a problem?" He glared at me with hate in his eyes, and threw a devastating punch right at my jaw. I went sprawling backwards and landed on my back. Blood dripped from my mouth. He jumped on top of me, throwing punch after punch in my face. Bruises appeared all over my face. I tried desperately to push him off me, but he was way too strong, and angry. I heard my jaw crack. My eyes started to swell shut. I could hear Fye yelling at Kiel to stop, but he was ignored. Fye rushed over and tried to push Kiel off, only to make Kiel turn on him too. He got up from me and kicked Fye right in the stomach, which sent him to floor out of breath. Kiel turned back to me.

"Bitch." He whispered, picking up his stuff from the floor and flung them onto my bed. He threw my desk and pair of casual clothes at me. The desk hit me in the groin. Ouch.

Fye struggled to get up. Everyone in the room was speechless. The door slammed open.

"What the hell is going on here!" It was a boy I hadn't seen before. He was wearing a long green mage's robe, but the hat of a bowman. He carried an impressive looking spear on his back (Guan Yu Spear), and carried a small leaf in his mouth. His green shades were teetering dangerously close to the edge of his nose.

Fye looked extremely concerned. "Nothing, don't worry about it."

"What the hell do you mean nothing!" He looked over at me, still bleeding on the floor. "That's nothing? He's bleeding all over the floor." He looked around the room. Kiel tried to look small as possible. "Who did this?!" He looked up to the boy sitting in the first hammock. He was sharpening an impressive looking red dagger that curved around his hand. (Blood Dagger) He gestured his head towards Kiel and Matic marched over.

"What the hell Charles." Protested Kiel. Matic grabbed Kiel with one hand and lifted him into the air, holding him real close.

"Shut up scum." Kiel snarled and looked away. "You look at me when I'm talking to." Reluctantly he turned his head back. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Look, I was just venting."

"By beating this boy's face in?" He gestured to my face, which was by then almost healed. I don't think it mattered though. Matic was already set in his destructive rage. "What the hell happened?"

Kiel was pouting and talking as low as possible. "He beat me."

"He beat you?" Matic laughed. "Is that all?"

"I worked hard for my spot!"

"Shut up. You're nothing and you will always be nothing. You've been here for five years, and this kid, who obviously just got transferred in from Training beat you, on his first day. You're a loser and a disgrace to the guild. I'm applying for your transfer tomorrow."

He literally threw Kiel across the room to the number 20 hammock then turned to me, extending his hand. He pulled me up and helped me take my stuff to the number 17 hammock.

"I saw the video of the battle. You are some fighter, but don't let it get to your head. He gestured over to boy in the first hammock, Charles. "You still have a long way to go." He smiled and walked toward the door.

"Don't just stand there, act busy." With that he walked out of the room. All of the kids and the room tried to get back to their activities, but I noticed they couldn't help stealing a glace at my healing, yet still battered face. Fye got up and walked over to me.

"Hey. . . are you ok?" I felt around.

"Yep, I'm fine." My stomach growled. "A little hungry though. I haven't eaten in like. . . a week. Where can I get some lunch?" He grinned.

"Thought you'd never ask."

* * *

Fye lead me through the slightly more crowed hall ways till we came to an extremely busy room. It was huge, almost as big as the Battle Room. On one side of the room was a long counter, with several men and women serving food to students behind it.

"Welcome to the Cafeteria." He smiled his trademark smile. "You may want to mark it on your card so you can find it again, at least until you get used to the building." He grabbed my card and pressed the leaf. The card projected a map of the school, now with the cafeteria clearly marked. "Here you go."

I took back my card and we walked in to get some food. I ended up getting two muffins and a bottle of milk. Fye grabbed a giant cookie and a cup.

"I'll just steal some of your milk when you're not looking." He laughed.

"Only if you can catch me." I ran through the crowd, jumping over tables and people alike. Fye struggled to keep up, trying to duck under the tables as fast as I was running. While trying evade two kids having a practice duel I dodged to the side, only to slam directly into someone's chest. I went flying backwards and my tray got away from me.

"What a tragic waste of a muffin." I looked up, only to see it was Jin. He was grinning his psychotic smile, his hair looking a bit more red than usual. I picked up the tray just as Fye caught up, out of breath.

"Who's -GASP- this -GASP-?"

"My name is Jin. Who the hell are you?"

"Fye. I'm in Echo's guild."

"Really now?" Jin turned to me. "You didn't tell me you were promoted. Congratulations little guy, I'll have to kill you sometime." He smiled. "When you're ready for that rematch let me know." He patted me on the back and with his monstrous amounts of strength he sent me flying forward a couple of paces. Jin grinned as he walked past, and with that he exited the cafeteria, pushing a few trainees out of the way as he did.

"Who was that?" Fye looked concerned.

"Don't worry about it. He thinks death threats are funny."

"Weird. . ."

Tell me about it.

"What was that?"

_Shut up. . ._

Oh so I can't have friends?

"Huh?"

_Go bother Jin or something._

No. . .

_Aww come on, he's one of our closest friends._

You're as crazy as he is.

"Who's crazy?"

"Sorry Fye. I'm talking to Yian, my pet."

"Your pet?"

What do you mean pet?

"Yeah, my pet." I gestured toward Yian, who is still trapped in my shadow. "He's a Lucida, but he got trapped in my shadow somehow."

"Lucida!?" He literally screamed it out. Half of the cafeteria went silent.

"Umm. . . yeah."

"Those are only legends. You must be crazy." He started to back up.

"Nope, not crazy." Yian started to move around in the shadow, causing it to writhe and churn.

"What the hell."

"Calm down he's not gonna hurt you. He can't even figure out how to get out." Fye calmed down visibly, but he kept taking nervous glances over at my shadow.

"I'm still hungry, can we get some more food?"

"What happened to what you just had." I pointed to the floor. "Oh."

* * *

We sat down at an almost deserted table in the back corner of the lunch room. We talked about home and why we came, and our goals about being here. He surprisingly didn't have such a good childhood either. We were in the middle of talking about my fight today when an announcement was blasted from the intercom.

"Guild battle. Leaf vs. Rose. In half an hour all members of both guilds please report to the Battle room."

Everyone in the room came to life. People wearing red uniforms first, pushing past everyone. Matic was spotted at the door, gesturing for us to hurry back to the dorms.

"You done?"

"Why?"

"You should be content before your first Guild Battle." He grinned, and we dashed back to the dorms.


	10. The Clash

**_Echo Chapter 9_**

_The Clash_

* * *

**Guild Battle? Isn't that a little bit rash?**

**No.**

**But putting all those lives at stake for one kid. . .**

**Listen. We recruited Echo for his abilities. If he fails we're all pretty much screwed.**

**But...**

**Are you saying you doubt his talent's then?**

**No, its just that there are so many strong fighters, none in Rose are below rank three, even their 20th position.**

**My word is final. The guild battle will continue as scheduled.**

**As you wish sir.**

* * *

In five minutes time all the guild was milling around the dorms, waiting anxiously for Matic. Everyone was excited; lots were polishing or sharpening their weapons. One boy was sewing a rip in his shirt, which had the same look as mine, only larger.

"Why is everyone so excited? Doesn't this kind of thing happen all the time?"

"Actually no. There hasn't been a huge guild battle in at least three months." He paused and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Especially after that last kid died."

"What?"

"Well all of our fights take place in The Mind, but the mental stress was too great for him to handle. He was found dead, lying in the middle of the battle room. There hasn't been a large battle like this until now."

"Interesting."

Just when you get here.

_Exactly what I was thinking._

"So how does this whole guild battle thing work?"

"Well the common procedure is that the respective ranks fight each other. The winner goes on to help a team mate the rank above you. Usually the battle comes down to two members. The winner of that fight wins the whole thing for the guild. The guild leaders usually only join in the fight when there're only two left."

"That doesn't seem very efficient."

"Well that's the way it's done."

"Whatever. What rank are you?"

"Oh, I'm fourth."

"Fourth?! Then why were you in the hammock above me?"

"What I can't use someone else's hammock? It's not like I was sleeping in it."

"But why don't you have better armor."

"I don't need armor. I can destroy my opponent before he even gets close." He grinned widely and fingered his bow, clamped on his back. I never noticed it before, but it was a very formidable looking bow. It was made of ivory, and the very front was fashioned into the shape of an eagle's head. The handle was wrapped in the same gold foil that coated the beak of eagle. It looked like it took a lot of strength to fire.

"If you're so strong why'd you let Kiel hit you like that?"

"No need to add to the conflict. I'm just glad you're ok." I smiled, and he grinned back. At that moment, Matic burst into the room.

"Ok people, overview." Matic sat at the biggest desk in the center of the room. Everyone crowded around, trying to get a good view. He placed a larger version of my desk on the table and booted it up. The holo projector displayed the bios of each member of Rose guild.

"Rose guild is made up mostly of warriors. Second is Fire and Poison mages. They have one Bishop and one Cleric. They also have only one Ice Lightning Mage. There are three bowmen, one novice Ranger, one Bowman, and one Crossbowman. That's it." There was a murmur of approval from the guild members, which didn't really make sense because there was no question asked.

"Fye, I'm going to count on you to back me up with Felix. His Dragon Spear is a formidable weapon, and his technique is very advanced. Last time we fought I nearly lost to him, and I would have if it hadn't been for Charles' help." Matic grinned, and Charles grunted approvingly. "Ok, let's head out to the Battle Room." Everyone filed out, by rank. Matic grabbed Kiel as he was walking out. "Not you scum." He roughly tossed him back into the room with one hand and slammed the door. He walked up to me.

"Echo, it's Echo isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is."

"I'm going to need you to help take care of the Rank 20 in Rose Guild, now that Kiel is sitting this one out."

"No problem, if you think I can handle it."

"Heh, the way you destroyed Kiel, you should be fine." I grinned and followed the rest of the crowd to the Battle Room.

We reached the Battle Room. Matic swiped his card and logged in the whole guild. We all charged in, and were scattered throughout the room.

—Echo—

Echo materialized in the same forest of trees he was in last battle. In the unexplained heat of the battle room, the shade was a very comforting sight. He looked towards the ground and saw no one. Jumping through the trees he surveyed the area, still not coming across anyone.

This is weird. There are supposed to be at least 40 people in here, and no one. We must have traveled at least half a mile.

_What do you mean we? You're not doing anything._

That's not the point. Don't you think. . . Yian was cut off by a arrow of flame scorching past Echo's face.

"Jin?" He asked, taking a defensive pose.

"No. Worse."

Several more flaming arrows shot toward Echo. Since they were made of fire he couldn't just block them with his dagger. He dodged out of the way and looked frantically for whoever was shooting the projectiles. Several more were fired directly at his face, giving him only moments to dive out of the way. The trees behind him caught fire, sending the smell of burning pine needles shooting into the air.

The Fire Poison mage laughed at Echo's pathetic attempts. He coated his wand with fire and charged from around the tree he was hiding behind before.

Echo caught sight of the mage's flaming wand almost instantly, and jumped to a higher branch formation to get the higher ground. His plan was to get up as high as possible, and make one devastating onslaught from his advantageous position. He wasn't getting tired at all, conserving all of his energy, hoping that the mage would run out of stamina before he would.

The mage kept bombarding him with fire arrows, making sure that one Echo couldn't get back down by any branch-ways once he got up. He knew he was starting to feel the fatigue of his offensive barrage, but it didn't matter if things continued to go as they were.

Soon they were nearing the top of the forest, Echo uses his acrobatic skills and agility to leap from branch to branch, the mage teleporting after him, burning all the branch-ways on the way up. There were not many paths left, and soon there would be no where to go.

The attacks from the mage were getting more violent and frequent, one singed his hand, making it hard to grab the lose limbs of the trees to pull himself up. He was at the last branch-way now, no where else to run. The mage teleported up to the branch, slowly burning it as he walked along.

Now!

Echo leaped off the branch, just before the mage enveloped it in flames. Remembering back to the first day of Battle Academy he landed on the trunk of the tree, sideways, and launched directly at the mage. The mage's staff began to glow green. As Echo got closer to the mage, the mage slammed the staff into his stomach, just as Echo let loose a well timed but poorly executed Savage Blow. The dagger hit the mage twice in the chest, causing him to stumble a little bit. Echo used this pause to use his shoulder as a fulcrum and flip over his back, letting loose another Savage Blow before hitting the floor. He rolled out into a somersault and stood upright his back to the mage. The slight bruise on his stomach was already healed.

"My advice, you shouldn't attack physically, being a mage and all."

The mage grunted, holding his wounds with his free hand. He managed to shoot off a fire arrow with just one hand, although it wasn't very accurate. He reluctantly took one hand off his wound and started shuffling through his pocket, soon revealing a glass bottle with a white liquid in it. He popped the cork and dumped some of the liquid on his hand, rubbing it on his wounds. They closed up just enough so that he could continue to fight. He downed the rest of liquid and threw the bottle away from the forest.

"For later."

He grinned and started shooting fire arrow after arrow at Echo's torso. Echo dodged every one. He charged at the mage, preparing to unleash another Savage Blow. As he was a few steps away, the mage reached forward and pushed Echo's head downward, sending him crashing into the tree behind him. The mage teleported away and shot several fire arrows directly at Echo's head. He managed to jump, but not nearly enough to clear the arrows. At least six arrows slammed into his chest, burning a hole his armor and sending him flying back in to the tree. He quickly got back up and ran back at the mage, only to get hit back again.

"Feeling sluggish?"

Echo's face was full of sweat, his vision was blurred his senses were escaping him.

"What is this?"

He collapsed on a branch-way nearby.

"Poison. You didn't think I would just hit you with my staff for no reason did you?"

The sun was shining right in Echo's eyes. He held up his hand to protect himself from the light. From under his arm he saw the mage standing over him, fire arrow in his face.

"You were a worth oppo. . ." He was cut off abruptly, his eyes started to roll back slowly into his head, until they stopped and refocused. Echo looked him over; his blood was poring from his shoulder. An arrow was lodged in the tree behind him, and he started to spin around in a circle. Echo took this opportunity to thrust out his leg with all his remaining strength. His foot slammed into the mage's leg, causing him to topple down the three hundred or so feet to his death.

—Fye—

Fye materialized on the top floor of an extremely rundown building. The room he was in was covered in a layer of dust, dull graffiti coated every wall. He walked over to the window and surveyed his surroundings. It looked as if to be a scene from Kerning City. The buildings were dilapidated and extremely close together, most were beginning to fall on top of other pathetic excuses for infrastructure. Since he was in the building, his opponent couldn't be far behind.

Fye charged into the building slamming the door open. A cloud of dust filled the air, kicked up by the wind from the door. He unlatched his bow from his back and notched two arrows, keeping them level to where a man of average height's heart would be. He walked through the whole floor, closely inspecting every room for any sign of his opponent. He went from floor to floor, there were about twenty floors, inspecting each room in the same manner, coming up with nothing. He exited the building and looked around. The streets looked even more depressing from the ground. Fye eyed the fire escape on the side of the building that led all the way up to the roof. He climbed it to the top and kneeled at the very edge of the building, leaving only his head and the top of his torso exposed. He put one arrow back into his quiver and recited the simple verse that allowed him to activate the skill soul arrow, lessening his reliance on the few arrows left in the quiver.

"Eagles eye." Fye whispered as his vision sharpened in on his surroundings. The eyes of the carved bow were glowing a dull blue. Down below he saw a rat running into a building. A fly landed on a mutilated flag pole about three miles away. And there were four small shadows on the floor below him. The shadows quickly started to grow, until Fye recognized what the shadows were being cast by. He jumped to the left quickly, just as four ilbis slammed into the floor where he was once standing.

"Hmph, don't count on that luck forever." Fye whipped around to see Rue, one of the strongest assassins in the school, standing on the roof top of a building nearby. "First rule of combat, always search for the high ground." Rue grabbed two stars quickly with his glittering Casters claw, and launched them directly at Fye with binding speeds. Just in his arm's wake, a shadowy hand launched another two stars, also composed of shadow, that followed the original two.

Fye was known among the guilds for his impeccable aim and extreme speed that rivaled that of a well trained rogue. He dodged out of the way and unleashed a volley of four glittering arrows, launched one after another, directly at Rue's clawed hand. Rue easily bounded over the arrows and leaped the gap between the buildings, landing directly in front of Fye. He was ready though, and slammed his bow directly into the assassin's stomach. He crumpled to the floor, but his shadow was still active.

The shadow quickly started jumping around the roof, launching off stars now and then. The shadow's movement was wild but in a complex pattern, so Fye was able to easily knock aside the stars as they came.

This is probably just a reflex of the shadow designed to buy Rue some time. Fye thought to himself. He slowly began to phase the shadow out of his focus and re-aim it back at Rue, who was already starting to get up. Fye shot another volley of four arrows at his body, only to be intercepted by four stars shot by his shadow. The shadow ran to rejoin his master and Rue was now fully prepared to fight.

"I admit you caught me off guard, don't expect it to happen again." Rue whipped out three stars and fused them together, forming one gigantic star. "Say hello to my avenger." He shot the giant star directly at Fye's neck, and since he was so close, Fye narrowly avoided it. Fye quickly got back up from his crouch, directly in the way of the avenger shot by the shadow. Instinctively he summoned a puppet directly in front of him, which barely stopped the star from slicing his head off.

"Quick thinking." Mused Rue, standing with one arm resting casually on his hip.

"Can you just shut up and fight, I do have other things to do."

Rue, infuriated, jumped into the air and using some of his energy, launched himself directly at Fye with extreme speed. With his clawed hand he punched Fye directly in the jaw, sending him flying off the side of the building.

"How's that?"

"Shut up." Fye quickly reached into the bottom of his quiver and pulled out a grey rock with an ancient rune engraved on the side. "Silver Hawk!" He shouted into the air while squeezing the stone. It started to glow a silver light, and Fye threw it into the air above him. In a brilliant flash of light a Silver Hawk appeared and caught Fye by his shoulders, gently slowing his decent.

"What!?" exclaimed Rue. He jumped off the side of the building in pursuit. Fye notched one of his real arrows from his quiver into his bow and infused it with the power of fire. He shot it to the ground, which for some reason was covered in a thin layer of ice, with incredible speed, exploding and sending huge chunks of cement and ice flying into the air. The hawk easily avoided the rock and gently lowered Fye to the ground. Rue wasn't so lucky. The more he tried to avoid the rocks the more damage he recieved. He would slam into one chunk and roll off, only to slam into another, and another, until he fell to the ground, his armor in rags. The shadow began jumping around and attacking again, but Fye's hawk easily countered and began an attack of its own. Rue struggled to his feet. The temperature in the room began to steadily rise, melting the ice and covering the city with a heavy fog.

"No way and I going to let you beat me!" He charged at Fye, using his flash jump again. His shadow rejoined Rue and both started sending off star after star directly at Fye's torso. He easily countered by sending several volleys of four arrows each at the stars, sending both the stars and arrows uselessly to the floor. When Rue was only one hundred feet away, Fye summoned another scarecrow directly under his feet when he was at the peak of his flash jump. Since the mist was so thick, Rue didn't see the puppet and slammed his legs directly into it, sending him sprawling to the floor, face first. Blood started to pour from his forehead. "No, no, No!" Fye kicked his body over so his chest was exposed.

"I'll end your misery now." He shot an arrow into Rue's forehead. His breathing instantly stopped, and his body dematerialized. Fye called the hawk over and it carried him high into the sky. In celebration he shot several arrows into the forest into the distance. The hawk pulled away and veered over to the next battle.

—Jin—

Jin found himself standing on a tall piece of scaffolding, which looked a lot like the place called Sunset Sky in Kerning City. He quickly materialized his sword, the blaze singing the air around him. Jin glanced up from his sword and looked around for his opponent. It turns out he didn't have to search for long. He heard a loud scoff behind him. He turned around and faced the maker of the noise, Harold of Leaf Guild.

"Ha this is the guy I have to fight, this is gonna go by quickly then."

"I could say the same about you."

"Really now? Well I'm the best Ice Lightning Mage in my guild."

Harold once again looked Jin up and down, checking him out to see if there was a chink in his armor. Unfortunately there wasn't, but he maintained his cocky attitude anyway. "I could kill you with my eyes closed."

"Well, I'm an adept." Harold snapped his attention back to Jin, his face slightly paler than it previously was.

"Not only that, but I've been trained by Hans Heal himself because I was to strong for the normal, and the advanced, combat classes."

"Lies! Everyone knows Hans died in the last Great War."

"Are you willing to bet your life on that?" Now Harold began to sweat, even through his failed attempt to maintain his composure.

Wasting no time, Harold whips out his wand and aims the point at Jin, one hand clutching his small shield powered by mana. Jin glanced at the puny wand and laughed hysterically.

"And what exactly do you plan to do with that."

"I plan to kill you." Once again Jin began to laugh, rolling around on the floor, laughing and holding his sides. Harold's anger boils over. He raised his wand to the sky, slashing it down quickly. The surrounding air chills rapidly, a jumble of blue streaks of ice rush directly at Jin, who by now was off the floor and preparing himself for a fight. Upon noticing the ice he slashed upwards with his sword, extending the blade of fire so it cuts through the ice, evaporating it in midair.

"What the hell?"

"You plan on using an ice attack on a man who controls fire?"

"Yes, in a matter of fact I do!"

Harold's wand begins to shine blue, cooling the air to temperatures even lower than they were previously. He pulled his arm forward and lashed it out like a whip, shooting a gigantic flash of ice at Jin. He easily jumped away from the attack, causing it to smash into the metal scaffolding behind and freezing it effortlessly.

Jin lengthened his sword and leaped off the side of the scaffolding, holding his sword out in front of him so it cut directly through the frozen structure. The weakened scaffolding collapsed to the floor, with Harold on top of it, into a giant heap on the ground. Jin walked over to the pile, sphere of fire in hand, ready to melt it into oblivion. He was interrupted by a powerful spear of lightning smashing to the rubble, barely missing his head and sending debris flying into the air.

" What the hell!?" Jin quickly shot several spheres of fire in the direction of where the spear came from, but to no avail. Harold had already teleported away, and stood in the area where rubble was still raining down from the spear's explosion. Harold began to freeze the ground around him. Cold and deadly spikes of ice rose up every now and again in the area's where it had grown especially cold, some killed a few simulated animals milling about, and one actually encased a student of a lesser rank inside it, killing him instantly. Soon the entire room was covered in a thin layer of ice. Jin thought nothing of it, the ice around him melted and evaporated almost instantly anyway. Jin stared at the steam as it rose up, an idea suddenly striking him. He maneuvered into a stance that lowered his center of gravity. The ground beneath him began to turn black, heating up and turning the ice in the entire room directly into steam, ignoring the liquid phase of matter.

"What did you do? Where are you!"

Jin's maniacal laughter was the only thing Harold could hear. Four balls of fire slammed into the floor around him, making a perfect square.

"What the hell is this?" Silence. "Answer me!"

"It's the technique that will end you." Suddenly pillars of fire rained down from the sky, attaching to the four flaming spots a Harold's feet and spreading out in a cage like pattern. Harold scoffed and waved his wand, effortlessly freezing the fire pillars. He simply pushed some of them aside and they toppled, melting into mist and thickening the already blinding veil. Harold turned around and around, looking for where Jin could have been hiding. His blood curdling laugh filled the room. Harold shot out several arrows composed of both elements in random directions. The bolts cracked as they hit the walls of nearby buildings and some monsters lost in the steam as well. He continued his flurry for about a minute and almost fell over panting heavily from the loss of energy.

"Turns out you got me."

"I knew… you couldn't… beat me." Panted Harold.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, I said you hit me, I never said you beat me." Several spheres of fire seemed to come out of no where and speed directly at Harold's face. He quickly focused his energy and six large ice crystals came crashing down from the ceiling and landing in front of him, creating a thick ice wall that successfully blocked the bolts of fire. Jin's fire blade melted through the wall in to time. He charged through only to be met by another barrage of those gigantic ice crystals. He created a shield of fire above him, reducing the ice crystals to harmless pebbles as they fell to the floor. He grabbed the shield and threw it directly at Harold's face, barely giving him enough time to knock it to the floor with a few well placed arrows of ice and lighting. The destroyed arrows only added to the now blinding steam.

Out of no where, a hand bursts out of the mist and grabs Harold's throat, lifting him up into the air.

"The only reason I'm not the guild leader is simply because I haven't had an opportunity to fight him yet." Jin takes Harold and slams him into the ground with all his might, knocking the wind out of him. Jin withdrew his hand and set it aflame, punching it down into Harold's chest, leaving a huge scorch mark behind and successfully knocking him unconscious. Jin casually kicked Harold's body away watching it dematerialize mid-roll. As soon as Harold's wand disappeared an announcement was blasted over the loud speaker.

"There are now only two guild members left in the Battle Room. Guild leaders may now enter the battle." A loud rumble shook the entire room, and the next phase of the battle began.


	11. Shadows

_**Echo Chapter 10**_

_Shadows_

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_

**You dont seem suprised at all at Echo's preformance.**

**Why should I be? I knew what he was capable of from the start.**

**Why are you rushing his training so much?**

**You know exactly why.**

**Of course I know _why_, theres just a question of his limits. What do you expect him to be able to learn in such a small amount of time?**

**You've seen how he grows, how much raw untapped energy he has. He survived your little experiment didn't he, when even your own son couldn't. **

**Valid, athough having the power and learning to use it are two seperate things. We know Jin is practically his equal. Perhaps we shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket.**

**If you can find a better substatute than Jin, perhaps we'll discuss this further, but until then he's my student.**

**Verry well.**

**

* * *

**

The sound of clanking metal surrounded me. I wanted desperately to open my eyes, but I couldn't, as if some other power was keeping them closed. I felt as if I was lying down, but I wasn't sure. My whole body was numb, but warm.

A new sound started to penetrate through the crash of metal. It was a sound that I knew that I knew, but I couldn't understand it. The jumble of noises was confusing and abrasive, why couldn't it go away and leave me in the sweet sea of crashing metal?

The confusing sound gradually grew louder and louder, until it completely blocked out everything else. I writhed in discomfort, trying to refocus on the safe sound of metal. Suddenly, an overwhelming pain grew in my chest, a horrible, consuming pain. My eyes jolted open. A rush of sensory information flooded my body, all at once. The feeling knocked me back down from my upright position. The room returned to its darkened state, but the confusing sound, clanking of metal, and pain in my chest weren't so intense anymore.

Get up.

It was the confusing noise again. I know it wanted something, but I didn't know what. I rolled over onto my chest and groaned. The floor seemed to roll up underneath me, flipping me onto my back, forcing me to look toward the ceiling. I blinked repeatedly. It was still dark in the room. Eight silver pillars lined the walls, or at least they seemed to. Under closer inspection they were placed carefully inside the room, forming the outline of a perfect circle. Slowly I stood up. Long black pillar like things snaked up from the ground and held my arms stiff, keeping me in an upright position. As soon as I got firmly on my feet, I felt as if I were being dragged toward the silver pillars. Quickly I grabbed onto the black things sticking out from the floor. They writhed in my hands, like snakes, but kept me from flying backwards.

"Pay attention." The black pillars receded into the floor, and a throwing star came flying at my head, seemingly from no where. I leaned backwards, so my body was parallel to the floor. The star flew over my head and disappeared into the background. All of the sudden, everything seemed to snap back into focus. The strange noises didn't seem so odd anymore.

"Finally, you're back." I snapped around, the motion nearly threw me off the stage. A man was standing on the very edge of the circle, arms folded. He had an extremely cocky expression on his face, his dark brown hair styled fancily in a spiky pattern. His blue sweatshirt and black pants stayed strangely perfect, even though the winds in here were blowing unbelievably fast. His eyes were a polished blood red. It was the man I fought in The Mind. He grinned.

"You'll be taking all of your combat classes with me from now on. You should get your new schedule when you get back to your dormitory. We don't have much time now. . . because of the poison and all. Oh well, let's get started." His smile grew as he suddenly disappeared. Six stars came flying at me from my left side. I quickly deflected three of them and dove out of the way dramatically, allowing the other three to pass over my head. Slowly I started to slide to the edge. I jumped to my feet and dashed over to where the stars came from. He wasn't there. The room was only so big, where could he have gone?

I heard another star fly toward the back of my head. Quickly I flung my head to the left, narrowly avoiding the projectile. Jumping forward, I caught the star in midair, letting the unbelievably sharp edges cut into my skin. Resisting the urge to scream, I turned around and flung the star back were it came form. The familiar clank of metal and flash of sparks signaled the star had been blocked. As my feet touched the floor, they were automatically flung out from under me.

Haven't you realized it yet?

_What?_

Stop jumping around like an idiot. The platform is spinning for a reason, if you keep doing that you're going to fly off and get yourself killed.

"He's right you know."

The man appeared right in front of me. He lunged with his clawed fist, leaving me no time to dodge. The cold metal slammed directly into my face, causing me to fly backwards. I landed on my back and slowly started slipping toward the edge.

Stop being a baby and stand up.

"Don't think; let your instincts guide you." He jumped back and flung several more stars at me. I rolled out of the way and flung myself up with my hands. I picked up my dagger and threw it directly at his chest. He jumped into the air, over the dagger.

"Not a wise move to throw away your only weapon." I rushed at him, clothes lining his legs, causing him to flip over. He grabbed my arms from behind, his legs in the air and head on my back, and put enormous force into his legs legs downward. The force lifted me off the ground, allowing him to land safely on his feet and slam my unprotected head into the floor.

"You're not using your instincts. Stop thinking and fight." Dazed but determined, I got up and closed my eyes, searching for any sign of my attacker. A small ripple of wind brushed past my ear. Without really thinking about it, I moved my head forward. Wind almost like a hurricane passed behind my ears. I was the man's fist. Using my left hand I grabbed his wrist and elbowed him in the stomach. I leaped forward and kicked backwards, flipping him over my head and onto the floor in front of me. I jumped on top of him and pinned his wrist to the floor, holding my forearm to his neck. He laughed.

"Nice move."

"What's so funny?"

"Can't I be happy my pupil learns so quickly?"

"No. . ." I opened my eyes, barely containing my surprise. Everything was in such definite focus, it reminded me of my fight with Soren. The spinning wasn't so intense anymore. It was easier to notice small details. . . like. . .

"Okay then." He grinned and jerked his hand forward. Something shimmered above his hand. Suddenly I heard a whizzing sound coming from behind my head, a trap! I leaped forward, harder than I meant to, and smashed into the wall. Conveniently, I fell onto the wall my dagger happened to be lodged into from earlier. Funny how that worked out.

Isn't that. . .

_Yeah, strangely convenient huh?_

It's almost like a bad fanfic. . .

_Too bad this is real life._

Quickly I reached out and grabbed it, preventing myself from falling. Looking down, I saw that outside of the circle had no floor, only fast moving pieces of machinery below the level of the platform. That was probably where the clanking sound was coming from. I pulled up on the dagger, preparing to jump back onto the platform. Timing was crucial, because those pillars were spinning at about 100 miles per hour. I placed my legs on the wall, unfortunately just as the dagger dislodged. I began to fall, headfirst, into the dangerous metal death trap.

_Okay, this is more realistic._

"Don't fall." He said this with a slight snicker, which really pissed me off. Quickly I stabbed my dagger back into the wall and stuck out my legs, preventing me from crashing into it. I used the momentum of my swing to launch myself back onto the platform, barely missing one of the silver platforms. As I landed I began to slip again, but a quick change in my stance stopped that immediadely.

"I see you've activated your Adept's eye. Interesting."

"What's that exactly?" I didn't like the man too much, but my curiosity got the best of me.

"You noticed when you stoped thinking so much everything got clearer. That was your Adept's eye activating. With such little use it seems to be at quite a high level, almost as high as mine."

"Uh..."

"Basically it makes your whole body work on overdrive without adrediline, at the cost of a bit of energy. However, the more you use it the less energy it consumes and the more effective it becomes, untill you can just stay that way all the time. But that's enough for now, we're not done with this fight."

He lunged again, throwing punch after punch. I parried and dodged most of them, but some hit their mark. The wounds started to glow a dull green, the healing energy was already repairing my body. I looked at my hand; the wound already stopped bleeding and began to closing up.

He threw a punch at me while I was still looking downwards. My hand seemed to move on its own, directly in front of his fist. I could feel the muscles in my arm tearing as I fought against his blow. He punched at me with his other fist and I caught that one too. He started pushing me back towards the silver pillars. Suddenly I felt a constricting pressure on my arms. I stopped moving backwards. The strength in my hands increased; I suddenly felt an amazing wave of power. I twisted one of his arms over the other and pushed with all my strength. I toppled him to the floor and pinned his neck to the ground with his own crossed arms.

"Check mate."

"Impressive. If you don't mind me asking, where did that last burst of strength come from?"

"That's the least of your worries."

"I could say the same to you."

Crap, another trap. I didn't wait to see him pull the ripcords. Turns out I didn't have to. He pushed up with his arms; giving him just enough room to bend his legs until his feet were touching my chest. He launched me up into the air, right into the flight path of the stars. I spun my body trying to maneuver myself so the stars missed my vital organs. They ripped into my body, spilling blood everywhere. Strangely, it didn't hurt that much. I landed on the floor, face first, the stars in the front of my body ripping further into my skin. Slowly I began pulling out the ones I could reach, to give the wounds time to heal. I looked up, to see the man standing above me.

"Not bad. . ." He extended his hand, most likely to help me up. I reluctantly grabbed it, and he pulled me to my feet. I was about to say something, when all of the sudden he spun me around and wrapped my arm, the one he helped me up with, around my neck. "We're not done yet, where'd you get that idea?"

My muscles were too damaged to respond. He kneed me in the back and punched me in the back of my head, sending my sprawling to the floor. He was fingering another star in his clawed hand, smiling a little bit.

"Almost there..." He threw it at my head with all his strength. I pathetically raised my hand into its flight path, like that would make a difference. I closed my eyes and waited for the pain, but it never came. Instead I heard an odd noise, that sounded like a gust of wind. I reluctantly opened my eyes. In front of my face was a thin black line, that looked almost two dimensional. It wriggled in the air, as if it were struggling to keep upright in the wind. I lowered my hand, and at once it fell to the floor and seemed to disappear.

"No way. . . I don't believe it."

I was confused. His statement was meant to be one of disbelieve, but he said it with a tone of complete ecstasy. On top of that, I have no idea what the hell just happened.

_Are you a little weirded out right now?_ Of course I couldn't see it, but in his mind he was quivering. _Yian?_

I. . . you. . . wha. . .

_Calm down. What happened?_

I'm... I'm pretty sure that was me.

_What was you?_

That black thing. It was me, it had to be.

_Don't be silly. That couldn't have been you._

That was... that was amazing.

_Huh?_

Do it again. I moved my hand up, this time, instead of a thin line, a whole shadowy mass rose up from the floor. It was as black as black could get; it almost seemed as if it were adsorbing the light that touched it. It was a very eerie sight.

"You figured it out, on your own too. I thought that would take me weeks to teach you." He was positively glowing.

"What the hell is going on here."

"It's your shadow. Usually, even with a catalyst, it takes months to even get it to that point." He jumped backwards and landed calmly on the edge of the platform. Around him, his shadow began to churn and lift from the floor.

"So those black thingies from before, those were from your shadow?"

"They were. You've thoroughly impressed me L... Echo, so, as your reward I'll finish training early today. Feel free to return to your dorm."

He looked me up and down. My wounds were still bleeding profusely.

"Whenever you're ready."

He reached behind one of the pillars and pressed something. Instantly, the whole platform groaned to a halt. A hidden door opened up on one of the walls, and a long walkway stretched from under it to the platform. He calmly walked out and left the door open for me. I could have sworn he looked over his shoulder and grinned, but I couldn't be sure.

"My name's Demitri by the way." My vision was gradually growing darker and darker. My muscles gave out on me. I collapsed, my cheek resting on the cool metal. I stopped fighting the urge to sleep. . .

* * *

It was several hours before I woke up, at least according to Yian. I was in the same position I fell unconscious in, the center on the circular platform. Slowly I got to my feet and looked down. My wounds seemed as if they were fully healed, but I was still a bit stiff.

You ok?

_Yeah, fine._

I brushed off the dirt on my uniform. I don't know why I bothered; it was all riddled with holes and drenched in blood. Scraps of it were all scattered around the room. Oh well. I walked, slowly, to the exit, turned the corner and started walking. Not that I knew where I was going anyway. I just needed to loosen up my sore limbs. Eventually it became much easier to move around.

So. . . where were we going now?

_I guess the dorm. . . I've been wondering how that guild battle ended._

I pulled out my card and pulled up the holo map. I sighed and turned in the opposite direction, after marking this spot on my map. Turns out I was headed the wrong way.

I got to the gigantic Leaf Guild doors and swiped my card, walking in as cautiously as possible. Everyone inside the room was looking at the door, but when I walked through they all returned to their activities. I looked around for Fye. He was lying on his hammock, looking up at the ceiling. I walked up to him.

"Hey Fye." He seemed startled.

"Hey Echo." He looked me up and down. "Wow, you look like hell. What happened?"

"Long story. So, what's up with you?" He looked really tired.

"We lost."

"Oh." I looked down, suddenly feeling really uncomfortable.

"But you did really well. I saw your battle."

"Oh, thanks. Was that you who shot that arrow at the last second?"

"Guilty." We laughed.

"But you couldn't have seen the whole thing. . . you were fighting your own battle."

"Oh. . . I guess no one told you. Since the whole thing is fought in The Mind, the battle is automatically recorded. I just finished watching your fight."

"Really? Can I see yours?"

"Yeah sure." He jumped down and grabbed my desk. It roared to life. He pressed the Battle Report and Library buttons together, which displayed a Video button in the middle of the screen. He pressed it and today's date appeared in the corner of the screen. He pressed that and the screen went black. A map of the terrain appeared, along with a list of our guild member's on the side. He clicked his name, and the battle displayed itself on screen.

"Wow. Impressive." He laughed and scratched his head. "I had no idea you were so strong. Why did you shrink away from Kiel when he was dragging me out of the room?"

"No need to cause problems. And I know they wouldn't have promoted a 12 year old without having a reason."

"Awww. That's so sweet." He laughed and lunged at me. I sidestepped and pushed his head forward, causing him to fall on his face. We both ended up laughing. The rest of the guild looked at us angrily.

"Just because you all got it handed to you doesn't mean you all have to be mean." The boy in the rank seven hammock angrily got up from his seat and walked toward me. Charles jumped from his hammock and landed in front of me, wielding his blood red dagger. Fye grabbed his bow and held in position to melee attack. The boy reluctantly backed off.

"Why is everyone so on edge?"

"Because when Matic gets back he's going to be pissed." Charles nodded. "It's best you don't get everyone against you. He's probably going to fight someone, so no one question's his authority." Charles walked back to his hammock and sat back down, giving me a cautionary look. Just as he lay back down, the door burst open. Matic marched in, clearly enraged.

"What the hell is wrong with you pathetic losers?" He bellowed, to no one in particular. Fye looked downward. Matic seemed to sense the movement.

"Fye! You let me down out there. I was counting on you, you good for nothing. . ." Charles jumped down from his hammock and placed his hand firmly on Matic's shoulder.

"Get the hell off me you mute piece of crap." Matic took a wild swing at Charles, which he easily dodged. Charles grabbed Matic's wrist and held it high in the air, then brought it down in front of his neck, holding him in the same position Demitri held me in earlier. The only difference is that with his free hand, he was holding his dagger to his back. Matic struggled.

"Let me go you bastard." Charles held firm. Kiel laughed in the background. Matic seemed to hear him, because his anger exploded in his eyes. "What's so funny Keil? Don't make me get Echo to beat you up again." Everyone snickered. Charles let Matic go. He walked over to Kiel and slapped him hard in the face with his spear. Kiel slammed against one of the trees in the room.

"Don't you ever laugh at me again, or I swear, I will kill you." With that he stormed out of the room.

_Awkward. . ._

You can sa. . . think that again, or say it out loud for the first time

"Awkward. . ." Fye giggled. Yian laughed.

"Hey Echo, you got a new message." He was right. The circle next to Messages was flashing. I pressed it. It was a message from Demitri. It read as follows:

Echo,

Nice new abilities. I'll be looking forward to our training tomorrow. I sent you your new schedule; it should arrive in your inbox as soon as you close this message. Also, I left you a little something in your locker. The orphanage said they found you with them when you arrived, with a note to give them to you when you were ready. They were given to me when you got here, and I think you're ready now. Make sure to bring them to class tomorrow, I'll explain everything. Oh and just so you know, your Skills button probably won't be of any use to you anymore. I don't plan on teaching you any of the. . . more conventional techniques. Oh well, don't dwell on it. See you later. ;)

Sincerely,

Demitri

I closed the message and opened up my Schedule. It read as follows:

8:00 – World History

9:00 – Events

10:00 – Piloting

11:00 – Target Practice

12:00 – Lunch

1:00 – Combat practice

5:00 – Scrolling Practice

6:00 – Dinner

7:00 – Free period

8:00 – Combat practice

10:00 – Dismissal

"Busy schedule." Fye was smiling at me from the top hammock.

"Do you sleep there now?"

"I couldn't bear being so far away from you." He laughed as I threw my pillow up at him. "Looks like we have the same event period."

"What's that?"

"It's where we have individual competitions. You're going to need this one. If you win an event, you get credits, which you can use to buy scrolls, new weapons, new clothes and more. There are some events where you can win a specific prize, like a rare weapon. Some events are one on one, time trial, completion, or team based. Some times they have separate Administrator events, which can be a variety of things. I got this bow from an Administrator Event. It's the best bow in the school, perfectly scrolled." He beamed with pride.

"What. . . are. . . scrolls?" He laughed, extremely loudly. Other guild members looked at him quizzically.

"You have a lot to learn little one. Just get some rest. You'll need it for tomorrow."


	12. The Gun

**_Echo Chapter 11_**

_The Gun_

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**You don't actually plan on making that the prize?**

**Why not?**

**Well... what if he doesn't win?**

**You actually think that's a possiblilty?**

**I admit it, he's a genius, but no ammount of intelect can beat actual experience.**

**I know what I'm doing.**

**You do realise who that gun belonged to?**

**I don't see why that should matter...**

**Just make sure it doesn't get in the wrong hands okay?**

**How many times must I tell you, I make no promises. **

**

* * *

**

I woke up early the next morning, at around five, blood rushing through my body at an disproportionate pace. Nerves, figures. It disturbs me how action packed my first day of guild life was. . . I mean, I got a super new healing power, fought three battles with extremely tough opponents, almost died twice, and all I had to eat was a muffin.

I began to think more about everything that happened yesterday. I wondered why Yian was so freaked out when he blocked that star yesterday. I mean, he's moved as a shadow before, right after I got my healing power. What was so different about moving off the floor? I guess I probably wouldn't understand. It's most likely the kind of thing you have to experience.

Also, why do I have six hours of combat practice, not even including the hour of target practice? I have my doubts if any person could survive that every single day, year round. I guess Demitri might have a reason, even if I don't understand. I wonder what we could possibly be practicing today. Guess I shouldn't wor. . .

It was just then that I realized I hadn't checked what Demitri had left me in my locker. Actually, I hadn't even opened my locker since I got back. So how did Fye get my desk. . . Ok this is making my head hurt. I picked up my desk from off the floor and pushed my finger in the lock on the wall.

On the bottom of my locker was a cardboard box. It was rectangular, and boxlike. It wasn't very pliable, but it weighed practically nothing, as if there wasn't anything inside of it. On the top was a very messily written, "To Echo." I'm still not sure why I spent any time examining the box when I could have just opened it. Sometimes I even confuse myself.

Planning on opening it anytime soon?

_Nope._

But I want to see!

_Oh well._

I put my desk back in the locker. Reluctantly, I put the package back in too. I guess it was kind of self sacrificing just to spite Yian, but I still felt it was worth it. I laid back down and dozed off again.

* * *

Fye woke me up at around six. Unfortunately, he felt the need to use a freezing bucket of water. I got out of bed, shivering, and threw my waterlogged pillow at him. He dodged it, laughing, even when I chased him around the room.

"Damn it, how the hell'd you get that bucket in the first place?"

"You know... I'm not sure. Whatever. Anyway, you might want to consider getting ready. Breakfast won't wait forever you know."

"Oh right, food." I ran over to my locker and changed into my uniform. Apparently someone replaced it while I was sleeping, because this one held no trace of yesterays bloody battle.

"In case you were wondering, the uniforms are outfitted with the latest nanotechnology, to repair any damage done to them in battle. It just takes a while to work."

"Well that's interesting." I grabbed my card in put it in my pocket. I left the package in the locker, planning on retrieving it after lunch for my first combat class. "Ok I'm ready."

"Let's go." He ushered me out of the dorm.

A few minutes later we arrived at the cafeteria. It was bustling with life. A small group of trainees were having an argument about who could throw a pancake the furthest. Two older girls were pulling at each others hair, and a teacher was frantically shooting flaming arrows at their feet, trying to get them to stop. The girls would part for a second, slightly in shock, then go right back at it. Several boys in guild uniforms were watching, occasionally letting out a cheer. The teacher shot them a dirty look, and then returned to trying to separate the girls.

Fye and I walked the long way around the cafeteria to avoid the confrontations. We walked into line and grabbed trays. I got a muffin and a big bowl of cereal, Fye got a huge stack of pancakes and doused them with syrup. We both grabbed a glass bottle of milk and went to look for seats. Unfortunately, the only seats available were next to Jin and one of the other members of Rose guild. Reluctantly, we sat down, shying away to the very edge of the table to put much distance between us as possible. He glanced over at me, seemingly not noticing who I was, and returned to talking to his guild mate. Suddenly my identity must have registered in his head, because a huge grin spread across his face as he slowly turned his head toward me.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here." His speech was slow and annoying. He slid over till he was sitting directly next to me. His guild mate looked a little confused as to why he was suddenly abandoned.

"You know, you should try to not say such cliché things. It makes you an expendable character." He grinned and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I see someone's still bitter about losing to me. Or maybe it's about me defeating your guild so easily yesterday."

"I see you like taking credit for other people's work too. Seriously, the jerks are always the first to go. I mean, unless they befriend the protagonist and miraculously undergo an emotional transformation at the most convenient time." I looked him up and down. "I doubt that's your cup of tea." I could tell Fye wanted to laugh, but he restrained himself out of courtesy. Yian had no such qualms, as he burst out laughing as soon as I finished my sentence.

"So maybe Yian will die first." I scoffed and went back to talking to Fye. "Don't tell me I struck a nerve." He grinned. "I guess I'll see you later." He got up and walked away from the table. As soon as he left Fye burst out laughing. I laughed too.

"So how do you know Jin?"

"Wow, long story. Well not really. Actually I just fought him yesterday." He looked confused.

"Why?"

"Well, that's kind of a medium length story. It all started when I first arrived. . ." I spent the next fifteen minutes telling him everything that happened since I got to the academy, including my encounter in The Mind with Lai and Roy.

"Wow." He sat back in his chair. "That was one action packed first day. Jeez man, you should write a book or something." Yian and I laughed. "And coincidentally, it's just about time for class." He got up from the table and chucked his tray across the room, perfectly landing into the trash can.

"Aren't we supposed to be saving those."

"Oh. . . oh well." Just then a loud bell rang. Everyone at once rushed to the doors and down the hallways. "Yep, time to go. Check your map for your first class." With that he dashed out of the room and flew around the corner.

—

In World History we did a bunch of pointless "getting to know you" games. No one I knew was in that class, but I did see two other members of leaf guild, the rank seven and thirteen. I nodded to them, but only thirteen responded. Seven scoffed and turned back to the group of kids he was talking to before. I didn't feel like participating, so I put my head down and closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep. I could feel the teacher's eyes burning a hole in my neck, but I refused to give in. Eventually he gave up and went back to "teaching" his class.

Soon the bell rang; 9:00 came sooner than expected. That's mainly because I lost most of my sense of time after spending so much of it in combat. I probably should have gotten a watch. Oh well, too late now.

I checked my card to see where the Event hall was. Turns out it was all the way across the school. Go figure. I burst out the door and charged down the main hallway, eventually arriving at the hall. A few students were still trickling in, but the majority were already in their seats. The room was split into four main columns and three rows, about seven chairs long and four wide. I looked around for Fye, eventually seeing him wildly waving in a seat far to the right. I walked over and took the chair next to him. We exchanged hellos and waited for something good to happen. That something came five minutes later.

"Hello students!" A voice seemed to boom from all directions. Several kids covered their ears to protect them from the violent sound. "Welcome to the Events!" A cheer erupted from the crowd, which soon died down. I guess they did do this every day.

"We have some new participants today!" The students started shifting in their seats uncomfortably. "Actually this is a first, because our first new applicant is only rank two!" This time a huge wave of excitement charged through the crowd. "Without further a due, I present to you, Echo, from Leaf!" Three gigantic spotlights flicked on at the same time and shined directly on me. The light was so intense it took five minutes for my pupils to adjust. When they finally fully adjusted, I noticed everyone in the room was staring at me. I awkwardly waved. Some people were complexly awestruck.

"He looks like he's 10."

"No way he has enough talent to be in a guild."

"And rank two at that. I mean, for his size that's impressive."

"He must be one hell of a thief."

"Students I would hate for you to get distracted!" The booming voice interrupted the chatter. "The second student joining us today comes straight from Rose Guild. Many of you may know him from various guild battles or meals in the cafeteria. He's finally taking a break from his private training to join the rest of in regular classes. Give it up for, Jin!"

Many of the kids gasped. Apparently they knew, and feared him. I guess he would an extremely powerful and memorable person, I'd seen him in battle after all. And he said himself, I one day could be stronger than him. It made me want to run straight to combat practice with Demitri. The spotlights turned toward Jin, but he didn't even flinch. Probably something about his fire ability gives him a natural resistance to bright lights. He was sitting in the same column of students I was. He slowly turned around and grinned at me, waving very discreetly. What was his problem? Why was I so damn... interesting? The response to Jin's introduction was the exact opposite of mine, everyone tried to avoid his gaze. He turned back around and focused on nothing in particular. Come to think of it, I wasn't aware of who was speaking to us, or which side of the room was the front. It all looked the same.

"Well now that that's settled, lets get down to the details of this event!" The crowd cheered again. "Today's event will utilize your piloting and reaction time. Students with higher energy levels will most likely do better in this competition." Someone next to me groaned. "I can't tell you much more than that, I think you'll enjoy it though. Now for the prize." The wall the chairs were facing began to split in two with a loud groaning noise. Again, several students covered their ears. When they came to a halt, they revealed a golden pedestal with an ornate black gun resting on top of it. It seemed to glitter in the spotlight.

"Today's prize is "Necros", a pistol forged from the rare Black Crystal ore. This is a one of a kind weapon of extreme craftsmanship and efficiency. It will fetch a fine amount at any store. Good luck finding bullets for it though. Now to start the event." As soon as he finished his sentence the floor disappeared, sending everyone wildly descending into a dark abyss.

* * *

I landed on a cold, wooden surface in a large, dark room.

_I really have to stop waking up in strange places. Why can't they have a test where I actually know where I'm going for once?_

That wouldn't be nearly as interesting, would it?

I got up and looked around. I was in a small ship that looked something like a rowboat but with more depth. There was a control panel in the front of the boat. In the center of the panel were two green circles with a black outline of a hand in the center of each. Between them was a steering column with a blank screen in the center. On each side of the circles were six switches, three on each side. They were labeled from left to right as: L, R, B, A, C, S. I assumed I was supposed to place my hands on the circles. As soon as I did such, I felt a tingly feeling, then a overpowering nauseating sensation. My energy was being drained through my hands and into the ship. I was so surprised I left my hands on till I started feeling lightheaded. I ripped my hands from the machine and it roared to life. It leveled itself and hovered up around three meters above the ground. I pressed the button on the right side of the column and the ship flew forward.

_Whoa_. We must have been moving at over 200 kilometers an hour, with no protection from the wind. Soon the wall came into view.

Uhh, Echo? We were about 100 feet from the wall.

_Yeah?_

Might you consider turning? 50 feet from the wall.

_You know I thought about it but..._

Just turn damn it! I pulled up on the steering column with all my strength. It was just in time too, because the ship was now flying directly up the wall, with about three inches of air separating the two. I kept pulling and the ship separated from the wall and flew back the way we came, upside down. I was hanging on to the wheel for dear life. A red light started flashing on the screen and the ship flung itself back upright, violently slamming me onto the wooden floor.

"Ouch."

Get tougher. I was about to respond, but out of no where a bolt of white lighting flew over my head, barely missing me.

"What the . . ." Another one came from no where and flew a little to my right. The bolts were coming from above and to the right of us. I heard a faint, wild yelping in the distance, and then more bolts came flying at us. I let go of the button instinctively to try and block the bolts. What I didn't know was that our ships stopped on a dime. My body kept flying forwards, soon to be over the bow of the ship. I grabbed onto the nose, which covered my hand with splinters. I kept sliding forward, dragging the ship with me but not at the same speed. The wood stabbed into my hand, drawing blood and digging deep into my skin. I resisted the urge to scream and climbed back into the ship. As soon as I did, another ship zoomed by my head. That was probably who was attacking us.

Are you ok?

_Yeah fine._ I used my field dagger to take out the larger splinters. The rest would have to wait for later. The wounds began to glow green and the wound began to quickly heal, stopping the bleeding within seconds. The ship that passed us was covered with a black, metallic looking material. But other than that, the ship looked pretty much the same as mine.

_How is he shooting at us. . . What are we even doing here._

How would I know . . . maybe you should check some of the switches on the dashboard.

_Oh yeah . . ._

I flicked the switch labeled L. Two lights flashed on in the front of the ship, illuminating a small part of the wall.

"Hmm" I flicked the R switch. The screen on the steering wheel lit up. Some text was displayed, which said:

**Death Match!**

**Destroy your opponents before they destroy you.**

The text dispersed after I finished reading and a radar field filled the screen. On it were a few dots, one was speeding away from us. It began to slow down, and then start coming back our way.

_That's probab –_

That's obvious, no need to say it out loud.

As predicted, the ship from before soared back toward us, guns blazing. Quickly I turned the ship around and piloted it forward as fast as it would go.

_Damn, I want some guns too!_ I frantically flicked the B switch. The ship started making all kinds of noises, and then flung forward even faster than before. The dot on the screen that was following us soon began to fall back. As soon as we were out of range I turned off the switch.

_Well if I don't have weapons I'll have to out pilot him._ I turned off the lights and turned the ship to face our pursuer. When he was about 150 feet from me, I turned on the lights and charged right for him. I hoped the light was getting through the cover. Right before we impacted, I darted above his ship and turned the wheel as hard as I could while I released the accelerator. When I was fully turned around, I aimed the ship directly for the back of his ship, pressing the accelerator with all the force I could muster up in my thumb. I turned on the booster so I could catch up to him, and impact him a little bit. Our hulls met and I turned off the boost. I kept flying into him, keeping him from turning in any direction. Eventually we came to the wall. I waited until we were almost there and turned back on the booster. When we were dangerously close to the wall I turned off the booster and the accelerator, and watched his ship smash to pieces against the wall. Before his body hit the floor it disintegrated in to several blue particles, then to nothing at all. So were in The Mind, again.

That was some nice piloting, although you neglected to check the other switches.

_. . . Damn!_

I flipped the A switch and two panels opened up in the front of the ship. A long metallic nozzle slowly reached out from the new opening.

_All that work . . ._

Get over it. The button on the left side of the wheel popped up. I'm assuming that was the button to fire the weapon. I looked back down at the radar screen. Of the 27 dots I saw before, only two were left. As I flew back into the room, one of the dots disappeared. The booming voice came back.

"This is a very interesting match folks. Just out of coincidence the final two contestants left are Jin and Echo, our two new applicants. This should be good." I gulped. This hardly seemed fair. The dot on the screen, representing Jin's ship sped toward mine, much faster than that other ship. I think he was using the boost. Soon his ship came into view. It was grand, small but formidable. It looked to be completely engulfed in flames. The room seemed to grow hotter and smaller the closer he got to me. I could make out his voice over the crackle of the flames.

"Well well well, we meet again. Hope you weren't planning on winning or anything." When he was done, several gigantic fireballs came flying at my ship. I frantically maneuvered around them and shot directly into his ship. The bolts that came out of my ship were a deep red, they looked like lightning dyed the color blood. However, the assault seemed to have no effect on his ship, he didn't even try and dodge. I could hear his annoying laugh in the distance.

The switches stupid. There are two more. I quickly flipped the C switch. The front of the gun began to glow, and particles of light started to get sucked into the nozzle. Soon, the whole front of the gun was completely bathing in a sphere of blood red light. I used boost to maneuver the ship into a position aiming directly at Jin's ship, and fired the charged shot. The blast came out in a gigantic sphere that flung my ship backwards and hurled directly at the ship at an extremely high speed. Jin quickly boosted out of the way, narrowly avoiding the blast. The ball spun harmlessly through the wall into nothingness.

Frustrated, I flicked the last switch. The screen went black, and the vessel began to plummet to the floor. The only thing that kept me in the ship was my death grip on the steering wheel. I pulled myself down and flicked the switch back in its original position. The power returned to the ship and it stopped plummeting, slamming me onto the deck, again.

_What the hell was that!_

Well obviously that switch turns off the power to the ship.

_. . . You. Suck._

I circled the ship and kept peppering it with bolts. Jin returned fire with powerful plumes of flame. I dodged them all, barely, then boosted off to safety.

_He's invincible! There's no way I ca . . ._ Conveniently, I came up with a plan mid thought. Quickly, I boosted back toward Jin's ship. Soon I got within firing distance. He began shooting more fire bolts at my ship. I did bother maneuvering around them. If my plan worked, the fire wouldn't have enough time to completely destroy my ship. About 50 yards from his ship I flipped the last switch. The ship completely shut down, flying downwards and forwards slightly. I jumped to the back of the ship, so the front started to turn upwards. When the front was pointed directly at Jin's ship I jumped forward and turned back on the power. The booster was still activated so the ship shot forward, directly at Jin's ship. I flipped the charge switch on, and the powerful sphere of energy slowly charged to full strength. Just before I collided with Jin's ship, I fired the sphere, which made a hole straight through it, wide enough for me to pass through. I could hear Jin's excited yelp below me.

"Excellent!" As I neared the ceiling, the screen went out again. The ship began to plummet back down to the floor.

_What the hell!_

Did you flip the switch again?

_No!_

We began to fall at extreme speeds, faster than the ship could fly with booster. As soon as we passed Jin's ship, it exploded, sending tendrils of blood red energy and ship debris flying everywhere, which turned into blue light and dissolved. The ship kept falling. It was falling so quickly the motion created a vaccum directly over the deck, cutting off my oxygen. Right before we hit the ground a blue light surrounded me. I opened my eyes with a gasp. I found myself sitting right in the chair I was before the event, definitely in an oxygen rich atmosphere. Some were looking at me with anticipation, some with admiration, and some with digression. The speakers in the room played a loud fanfare.

"Congratulations Echo, You've won!" Everyone in the room erupted in a cheer. Fye was the loudest. Jin got up and walked over to me. His hands were smoking, for some strange reason. He stuck his hand out with a grin. I shook it, although they were burning hot. I refused to back down. I could feel the skin peeling off my hand.

"Congratulations. You finally beat me at something. However, this wasn't too fair of a competition. We'll settle this in the battlefield. Later though. For now just enjoy your victory." He let my hand go and walked back to his seat. Where his hand had been was a huge black and red burn. It hurt, a lot. The healing started, slower than normal, although most of the pain was gone within seconds. Fye looked at me with amazement.

"Man, when you told me about that power I could have never expected this." I shrugged.

"Get used to it."

The voice boomed back into the room. "Echo, would you please come up to the stage." I was too busy with everything else to notice a man standing in the front of the room, on a stage that wasn't there before. His features were too defined to accurately describe, but I can say he was strangely handsome. He had a glow about him that was irresistible, like all you wanted to do was be his friend. I walked up to him and he shook my now fully healed hand. He was holding the Necros on a green pillow with gold trim. He moved the pillow in front of me, and I slowly picked up the gun.

"Congratulations. Use it well Echo." I looked at the extremely fancy and extremely light gun in my hands. It was amazing! Slowly I lowered it to my side, and then triumphantly held it over my head. The whole room erupted into a deafening cheer. This moment seemed to make all my time here worth it.

Just as the cheer died down the bell rang again. The man took one last cursory glance at me, and then disappeared into a plume of light.

_Time to meet Demitri again._

Let's hope this time goes better than the last.


	13. Pirate

_**Echo Chapter 12**_

_Pirate_

_

* * *

_

**We'll be leaving soon.**

**Why are you telling me?**

**Well after 10 years of working together I would like to think we've developed some sort friendship.**

**Keep dreaming, sir.**

**Fine, whatever. Just give me the rest of the ammunition. You're not going to need it.**

**It's back in my office.**

**We'll probably leave at the end of the week.**

**Just don't kill him Demitri.**

**I make no promises Hans.**

* * *

I arrived at the piloting classroom at exactly 10:00, making me one of the first to arrive. It was a lecture style classroom, tiered seats littered the back wall, giving way to a depressed stage area, equipped with tow dry erase boards and a generic circular holo projector with the yellow grid-marks that cover the top. The carpet was a dull green that would drag down the mood off the room, if spotlight style lighting wasn't used.

As I walked in the professor stood up, straightened her skirt, and looked me up and down, all with a wry smile plastered on her face. She had thin framed glasses and long black hair, that complimented her facial structure very nicely. She wore a white ruffled blouse and a tight black skirt that hugged her hips well, but gave her enough room to walk with some degree of seductive coordination. She was attractive, definitely attractive, but had the kind of presence about her that made her off limits, like your best friend's mother.

"You're the new kid who won the event, right?" I nodded. "Awesome. That was an impressive display of piloting skill; I've never seen anyone use a ship like that before. Have you ever considered tutoring some of the less advanced students?" I shrugged.

"I never took piloting before, I just got lucky I guess."

"I guess it's not for everyone." She said, seeming ignoring what I just said. "Anyway, take a seat in the front row, I want my star student right next to me." She put her hand on my back and ushered me to a seat in the front row of the room. As we walked she slowly moved her hand down my back and into my back pocket. I kept walking, not saying anything about it. Honestly I didn't know whether to be freaked out or happy about that. When I got to my seat she walked away, slowly and dramatically. She turned her head around and licked her upper lip, subtly so no one else would notice, but I sure did. I shivered and pretended I didn't notice.

After most of the students trickled into the room; class finally began. She pulled up a hologram of one of the ships used in the earlier event. She spent most of class explaining the power system of the vehicles. Apparently, the ship has certain abilities, which can only be accessed when a certain type of energy is used as its fuel source. Energy is drained from the pilot when he first enters the vessel, and it is stored underneath the control panel. When energy is used, it is taken from the reserve. Depending on how much energy the ship has, different options become available, like the boost, or charging your weapon. Officially, the ship's wont start until it has enough power for at least fifteen minutes of flight and one discharge of its weapon. More energy can be added though, the more energy added, the less you have to worry about the ship stalling in mid-flight. Throughout the whole class the professor kept winking at me, or taking seemingly innocent walks around the classroom, briefly brushing her hand across my chest as she walked by me. The boy sitting next to me gave me a thumbs up and a huge dopey grin. I thought about it for a while, and then slapped him, hard.

* * *

Target Practice was next. As soon as the bell rang I raced out of class before she had the chance to say another word to me. I dashed inside the plain room with a whole wall of windows and standard hardwood floors, only to be greeted by the cold metal of a steely throwing star, right across my cheek. A small trickle of blood dripped off my face and onto the brown artificial wood.

"What the hell!"

"You're late for class." It was the professor. He was an older man, his hairline receded to the point where only a small wisp of white hair remained. He wore a white robe that touched the floor, hemmed completely in a rich looking black fabric. His wooden sandals clacked on the floor as he walked, getting closer to me every second.

"I am not." I pointed at the wall clock.

"You should be here at 10:00, not just arriving."

"So you throw a steely at my head!?"

"Relax, you didn't die did you?"

"No but . . ."

"Listen, if you think you're going to get special treatment just because of your little performance earlier think again. You're not the star of this class."

"I never sai . . ."

"Roy! Get in here and show this kid a real performance."

_Oh brother._

Roy . . . I wonder if . . .

_You're right... how would you know about Roy though? _

I have your memories remember?

_Oh yeah._

Roy walked through a curtain in the back of the room. The other students took a break from watching the professor and I argue and stepped aside so he could pass. When he saw me his face curled into that smile I remembered so clearly from the first day.

"Hey Echo!" He waved cheerfully at me.

"You know each other?" Said the professor, stunned at the fact that his star pupil could be friends with a child who showed up to class at 10:00 instead of 9:59.

"Yeah, he came in on the same boat I did." The professor scoffed.

"Whatever. Just hit these targets." He pressed a button on a controller that was hidden inside of his sleeve. Sixteen target dummies popped up from the ground on the wall. When they fully emerged from the ground, they started shuffling around a bit, trying to escape to who knows where.

"Sure thing." Roy dislodged the Vaulter from his back. I recognized it as a part of the 2000 series, a simple yet deadly bow. He loaded an arrow, aimed, and let it fly. The arrow flew into one target, completely shattering it and passing through to a dummy directly behind it. Before I could even look back at him, three more arrows flew by me and downed three other targets. I gaped at him, right as he released another arrow. His hand seemed to move inhumanly fast as he grabbed an arrow from the quiver strapped onto the outside of his right leg, reloaded, and fired. Before I could blink, all the targets lay motionless on the floor, not a single arrow wasted. I whistled.

"Wow." He blushed and put the bow back in its holster.

"That's my Roy." The professor ruffled Roy's hair then turned back to me. "I bet you can't do that."

"Of course I can't, I don't have a bow." The class laughed, but I think it was more to alleviate the tension than to respond to my joke, because frankly it wasn't that funny.

"If you think you're so smart . . ." He kinda walked away without finishing his statement.

Does that mean the conversation's over?

_Uhhh. . ._

Suddenly, I felt a powerful gust of wind blow past my ear. Without really thinking about it, I ducked and leaped forward, landing in a somersault. I turned around to see an awfully disturbing puppet with its arm extended, being controlled by the professor. It looked like a modification of a straw target dummy, but instead of one huge target on it's chest, it had several: one on both wrists, one on both shoulders, one on the neck, two on the kneecaps, two on the ankles, and two at the hips.

"This is my training dummy for melee characters. Normally I don't have any bandit's in my class." He glanced at my field dagger, which I have to admit was becoming a little embarrassing. I mean, people were hailing me as some sort of prodigy and I was using a weapon even the trainee's were past by now. "I hope you can do some damage with that 'weapon' of yours." The way he put emphasis on weapon proved he agreed with my thoughts. With that the puppet began to move, slowly at first, but soon it began to pick up speed, right for me.

I jumped to the side and the puppet passed me, only to stop almost instantly and slap me in the back of my head. I stumbled forward, clutching my injured skull.

"Are you trying to give me brain damage?"

"Well I wasn't trying, but I wouldn't have any objections." The puppet, span around with its arms outstretched, like a giant, painful top. I ducked underneath its arms and spun around with my leg outstretched, knocking it's feet out from under it. I ran backwards and directly into the path from the professor and the puppet; but strangely I didn't feel any strings. That was weird, because the professor was moving his fingers to control the puppets movement.

I tuned around and rushed directly at the professor. If I could disable him, I would also disable the puppet. I lunged at him, dagger outstretched. Before I reached him, he dropped onto the floor and stuck his leg up, kicking me right in the chest. Before I could react, he pushed his leg into my chest even harder and flung me over his head. As I spun head over heels in mid air, I saw the puppet appear seemingly out of no where above me. It arched back its arm and punched me so hard, not so coincidentally where I just got kicked, that I blacked out for a second from the pain. Unfortunately, I regained consciousness just before I slammed into the floor, hitting my head on the hard wooden floor.

For some reason, my body just wouldn't give up. I slowly crawled to my feet; coughing up blood and stumbling around in a drunken haze. No matter how hard I focused I couldn't see straight, and my view was almost completely blocked by a hyperactive gang of dark spots dancing around my head. I could feel my body slowly healing itself, but it wasn't fast enough. Before I knew it, the puppet was on the offensive again.

"You shouldn't have bitten off more than you could chew."

"What the h . . ." I didn't even get the chance to finish my rude and sarcastic comment; I was too busy getting punched in the face. I fell back to the floor, coughing up more blood. This wasn't good. Before I could get up, the puppet jumped on top of me, repeatedly punching me in the face. I mustered up all the strength I could find and raised my left hand, catching the puppet's fist. At first it tried to break my grasp, but when that didn't work it punched at me again with it's left hand. I blocked that with my right hand and grabbed its wrist. I have no idea where this burst of strength came from, but somehow I managed to flip upward and over, launching the puppet over my head and breaking its right wrist. Soon my vision began to clear, and my muscles became more responsive.

I quickly picked up my dagger and threw it at its chest. It easily dodged, but I took the opportunity to make a direct attack. I charged directly at the puppet; leaping into the air and wrapping my legs around its wooden chest. I followed through with two swift blows to the targets on it's shoulders as we fell to the floor. Apparently hitting the targets releases some sort of mechanism, because as soon as I made contact both shoulders began to hiss and steam, pretty much exploding off of it's torso. The arms fell helplessly beside the puppets body, and the puppet and I fell to the floor together. I punched it in the face and neck, releasing the neck mechanism causing it's head to roll uselessly away from it's body. The whole puppet went limp and unresponsive to the professor's commands. I fell sideways, completely exhausted. My body hadn't completely finished healing itself yet, and fighting like that probably wasn't my wisest choice.

I heard some clapping from behind me. "Congratulations, you managed to defeat my level one puppet." I coughed up another mouthful of blood. Slowly I climbed to my feet and wiped off the stray dropplets from my mouth.

"What the hell!" I advanced toward him as angrily as I could in my condition. My internal organs screamed out in protest. It was hard to get my muscles to cooperate. "This is supposed to be target practice, not beat your students down with an unnaturally strong puppet class!" It was hard to say that last part without wincing at my awkward argument, and the crippling pain in my chest.

"Well I don't see how I'm supposed to test your accuracy otherwise. I suppose you're in this class for a reason. Don't complain to me just because you're a sub par thief!" As soon as he finished his little speech the bell rang. He blinked, breaking his homicidal stare at me, and announced to the class, "Time for lunch." He glared at me once more before walking back behind the curtain in the back of the room. Roy jogged over to me.

"Are you okay?" I was still clutching my stomach.

"I'll be fine, I guess." I didn't really believe it myself, but my wounds were healing faster now, I could talk normally within minutes. "What's up with him?"

"Ehh, he just knows a good student when he sees one. He did the same thing with me the first few days."

"So you're saying you're a good student."

"No, I'm saying he thinks I'm a good student." I smiled, I forgot how much I enjoyed Roy's company.

"You shouldn't sell yourself short. I saw your shooting in the classroom, that was amazing." He grinned.

"Well, it's not all me. It's mostly my ability."

"Ability?"

"I'm an adept." He looked at me quizzically. "You didn't know that?"

"Of course I didn't. How could I have possibly known that?" He shrugged. "What's your power?"

"Super speed. Wasn't it obvious?"

"Well it could have just as well been super accuracy or something like that."

"No need to get defensive; but my accuracy is all mine." He smiled. "Blood, sweat and tears. The speed merely helped out a bit."

We walked in silence for the rest of the way to the cafeteria. When we got there, we collected our meager rations and sat at a table by ourselves. We didn't really talk, there was nothing much to say. It didn't take long, however, for something to break our comfortable silence. Lai walked up slowly to our table, with a group of her friends. They talked happily around her, but she didn't pay them any mind, she kept her eyes locked on mine as she approached. At they neared, her friends slid off from her to go sit at a table down the row, as she took a seat directly across from me.

"Lai?" I asked, slightly confused.

"Echo, I need to tell you something important, and you mustn't repeat it to anyone." I hadn't noticed before the full extent of Lai's beauty. Her eyes were blue, with a slight touch of green gracing the outer rim. Her hair was curly and long, yet it flowed gracefully down her shoulders and back, shimmering in the cafeteria's light. Her blue uniform hugged her body nicely, which was much more developed than I noticed before. She was quite the young woman, and a stunning one at that.

"What is it?"

"Yeah, I kind of want to know too." Roy was leaning forward in seat, hanging on her every word.

"Well I'll tell you both because I value your trust. Echo you received a package from your instructor recently, correct?"

"Yeah, the other day. Why?"

"Keep it safe, at all costs. There's some talk going around, among the high ups you know, teachers and admins and such, about it's significance. Just make sure it doesn't get away from you. I don't know what's in it, on what it does, but apparently it's a very powerful artifact. I mean, beginning of time creepy magic stuff. So, be careful okay?" She said this with concern, which surprised me, seeing that I hadn't known her for that long.

"How'd you find this out, I mean, why don't I know any of this yet."

"I have my ways of finding out information, which you don't need to worry about right now. Just promise me you'll be careful."

"Okay... I will."

With that she got up and walked back to her friends. She looked a little more relieved, but she never took her eyes off me. We stared into each others eyes for the remaining lunch period, speaking to each other without words.

* * *

After lunch I walked back to the dorm. I opened up my locker and removed the box.

What do you suppose is inside?

_I don't know... but I guess we'll find out in a little bit._

I ran back to the room I was in yesterday, with the spinning silver pillars. Expect this time the platform was off and the machinery on the outer edge of the room was covered with the same metallic material as the rest of the platform. I walked inside and looked around, but he was no where to be found. I set the package down on the side of the circular platform, and sat down cross legged in the middle, facing the door. I tried to focus on Yian again, in hopes of lifting him into 3 dimensions, like I did the other day, this time without waving my arms around like an idiot.

Demitiri walked in on my practice. I had managed to get the shadow up off the floor, but I could only form it into an awkward liquid like ball. I got up and slowly turned to face him, my eyes still closed. "Hey Demiri." I said quietly, trying to maintain focus on the sphere and settle it back in it's proper place by my feet.

"Hello Echo." His voice sounded cautious. He glanced over at the items I brought with me. "I see you brought them."

"You told me too." He pinched the top of his nose, bowed his head, and closed his eyes, a stance that conveyed frustration.

"Is something the matter?" I tried to make my voice sound concerned. He sighed.

"I'm just having a hard time figuring out what to teach you." He paused for a while.

"What do you mean?" He sighed again.

"A student like you has so much potential," He trailed off in the middle of his sentence. He seemed really distracted or bothered by something. "I could really take 100 different paths . . ." He paused again, but this time he didn't continue. He continued running his fingers along the ridge in his nose for a while longer, and then looked up at me.

"Let me see that." He was gesturing toward the gun I received at today's event. Necros, I believe it was called. I casually took it out of its holster and tossed it to him. He caught it, and began to look it over closely. Slowly, his eyes began to brighten with relief.

"I think I just figured out what you're going to be!" His voice was kind of excited, well excited for him. It really sounded pretty much the same.

"What?" I asked, confused. I could have sworn I wanted to be a Bandit . . . maybe I was wrong?

"You know those old stories, about the pirates?"

"Uh, vaguely. Why?"

"Let me elaborate." His shadow morphed into a comfortable looking mat, on which he sat down cross-legged. I casually leaned against one of the metal pillars. "Back in the early days, right after the gods made the four races, there were . . . minor conflicts in the provinces. Several individuals ignored their natural natures in pursuit of money. Contrary to popular belief, most rogues aren't actually thieves . . . they only got that name because of their extremely swift and clever nature. Anyway, these said individuals went around, stealing from innocent civilians. Eventually they were caught. The human's wanted them all killed, to keep the peace, but the gods were more in favour or mercy. They let the thieves go one condition; they were never to return to their towns again. Reluctantly the thieves agreed. Naturally, some of them tried to sneak back in, but they were promptly killed in various, painful fashions.

"The more obedient thieves left and scattered, making casual alliances with other one's like themselves. Teamwork was essential outside of the towns, because meals were scarce. In the beginning, they were able to create a booming port city named Ho. However, when success is mingled with a large populous of cutthroat thieves, trouble usually arises." He took a breath. I wonder why he was giving me this textbook like explanation, although I said nothing. I didn't want to piss off the guy I would probably spend the next few years of my life with.

"The peace lasted a few years at most. The inhabitants broke off into several different factions, called crews, stole sky ships, and took of into the skies. They patrolled the space between Victoria and Orbis, intercepting ships traveling back and forth and stealing from the passengers. Their thieving behavior earned them the name "Pirates," and they terrorized the skies, often fighting with and destroying each other, but never coming close to extinction.

"Most pirates were simple minded brutes. They took the skills they learned in their towns and used them to terrorize the civilized society. But a select few viewed piracy as an art form. They became pirates not for the money, but for the fresh challenge. These pirates learned to master powerful melee combat, so they were ready to fight at a moment's notice. At first this worked well, but eventually they realized their need for a long range attack method, to destroy attacking pirates that chose to stay away. They learned to forge the intriguing new weapon, the pistol, as a reliable and surprisingly accurate ranged weapon. As time passed, the guns became like an extension of their bodies. They were a whole new breed of threat, and the cities had no idea what to do to counter them.

"The provinces were becoming uneasy. It was no longer safe to travel between the land and sky. Something had to be done. That's when they formed the first Navy, if you use the term loosely. They had a single sky ship, but their captain was a military genius, and his soldiers were some of the most promising from the towns. He captured ship after ship of the brutes, building up his forces until he could go after the new sophisticated pirates. At the end of his campaign, he had over 100 ships and 8000 soldiers. The final battle between the true pirates and the Navy was a slaughter. The Navy lost over 70% of their forces, who had little to no defenses against the pirate's new attacking styles. However, in the end, mostly due to the Navy's overwhelming numbers, the pirates were wiped out from the earth."

He stopped talking, but I gave him a minute to see if he was finished. When he didn't say anything I asked, "What does this have to do with me?"

"Well I'm going to train you in the way of the Pirate. I thought it was obvious." He frowned.

"Well isn't that forbidden?" He rolled his eyes.

"Why do you think you got this gun in the first place?" He stated his question in a way that made me think it was obvious. I frowned this time.

"You staged the event?" He grinned.

"Staged is such an ugly word. And it's inaccurate. All I did was supply the prize, you had to win on your own." I shook my head in disbelief.

"So . . . what? You plan on teaching me techniques that are forbidden in a _government funded_ building? That doesn't seem like it's the wisest course of action." His impatience was plastered all across his face. That annoyed me to no end.

"Well obviously we can't do it here. I'll train you in everything I can safely here, but then we have to go." He grinned, expecting me to grin back at him. My mouth curled into a frown. I didn't want to leave my friends, I would miss them.

"Well, if that's okay with you?" He added when he saw my reaction. He sounded kind of nervous. Backing out now would obviously cause him some sort of inconvenience.

"Well if it's for the good of the world . . ." I trailed off. He looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite understand.

"You have no idea how important you are." He gave me a dazzling grin that instantly won me over.

"Fine, I'll go. But you're still going to tell me about what's in that package right?" I gestured toward the cardboard box near the closest silver pillar. I couldn't help but wonder about my only connection to my past, maybe even the parents I lost . . .

"Of course!" He looked surprised I would even doubt his promise. I think I was going to like him. "In fact, I'll show you right now."

Yep, I was definitely going to like him.


	14. Power

Hello everyone! This is a happy coincidence, because not only does the story hit 40,000 words this chapter, it's also the second to last in this segment! That's right, part two will be beginning shortly. I'll reveal the title next chapter, which is already in the works. By the way, sorry for the long wait, I got busy with school, but I promise the next chapter wont come with such a delay. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

_**Echo Chapter 13**_

_Power_

_

* * *

_**Is that the boy, the fateless one?**

**Yes, it is.**

**He is beginning to awaken his true power.**

**Do you suggest we intervene Master?**

**Perhaps.**

**Master?**

**Seek out the ones closest to him.**

**And do what?**

**I have something in mind. Let's see how he reacts when his reality starts to crumble around him.  
**

* * *

Demitri and I sat together in the middle of the platform, staring at the package in front of us.

"Why don't you do the honors, Echo?"

"Alright."

I grabbed the box and removed the tape slowly, as not to damage either the box or the contents inside. Although I doubt an artifact of ancient power would be destroyed by taking the tape of the box too quickly, it doesn't hurt to be careful.

Inside the box were two simple items. The first, a golden scarf seemingly made of silk, except it moved like a wisp of smoke as I twirled it around, almost hypnotically. The other was a hard bound journal of the same color. It seemed to weigh nothing although it was the size of a small notebook.

"What is this stuff?"

He grinned slowly to himself, snatching the scarf out of my hand. He calmly wrapped it around his fist and clasped his hands together, holding them up to his bowed head. His eyes were closed and his brow furrowed, a small bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face. The scarf began to change color. It went from the silky gold it was before to a deep onyx black, as dark as shadow, with a faint blood red glow around the edges. Before I could react, he launched forward, toward my shadow. He jabbed his fist right into it, slowly at first, but soon the red glow reached all around my shadow. The sensation felt quite similar to... being electrocuted.

[Echo! What's going on?]

There was a slight twinge of terror in his voice, which I'm surprised I could pick up on in so much pain of my own. It was times like this I wish we weren't connected so closely. His terror flowed over me, like a violent current in black water that I just couldn't get away from, no matter how hard I swam.

Demitri slowly raised his hand from my shadow. Only, it seemed as if he was grabbing it, dragging it along with him. The red glow flowed along the mass of shadow that was how free standing. Demitri backed up, looking satisfied with his work. My eyes darted from his smug face, his now empty hand, and the squirming blackness that stood where my shadow once was.

_Yian!? Yian!?_

[Yeah?] His voice was strained, but no longer terrified. Maybe even a little at peace. My eyes locked onto Demitri's.

"What happened? What did you do?" I demanded. I got up and took a menacing step forward. He almost laughed.

"Look behind you." I turned around slowly. Standing there was Yian, back in his own body. Instead of the small kitten-like figure I remembered, he stood at least 5 feet tall, fully grown. His body was large and muscular, like a lion's, the golden scarf around his neck looked like string in comparison to his broad shoulders. His fur was all black, and the wings sprouting from his head were wide and well defined. He looked as if he had to struggle to keep from flying off the ground. His tail was long, and sharpened into a deadly red point, his blood red eyes were potent with wisdom. He was strangely beautiful.

"Yian?" My voice was barely a whisper. He responded with a low rumbling in his chest, not really a growl, but it was still odd to hear it from the person I spent so long talking to in my head.

He looked down, inspecting himself. Apparently he liked what he saw. His eyes brightened even further with his excitement.

I expected our mental link to weaken once he was free of me, but it actually seemed to get stronger. Slowly, I walked up to him and ran my hand through his fur. He purred softly, and inched closer to me. His body was so cold, but I didn't mind.

"Are you going to explain?"

Demitri grinned. It was hard to hold back my excitement. Yian looked big enough to ride!

[You're not planning to _actually_ ride me are you?]

_Of course not, don't be silly._

"What is there to explain? All I did was remove him from his prison. Looks like he grew a bit." He inclined his head, impressed.

I went to remove the scarf from Yian's neck, but in an instant Demitri was next to me, restraining my hand. I half heatedly struggled against him.

"I thought you wanted me to show you how to use it." I sighed and nodded, backing off.

"Do you mind?" He asked Yian.

[Of course not.] The sound of his voice in my head sounded more like an echo than the clear melodic sound I was used to, most likely because he wasn't talking to me directly. Demitri deftly unraveled the scarf from his neck. It looked like he had already been charging energy in his hands, because as soon as he touched it, it turned that same onyx black as before. Slowly, he ripped it in two, and the cloth fell slowly, engulfing his hands in black shadow.

"What did you do?" I screamed, barely able to contain my rage. Yian growled this time for real. The sound was slightly unnerving. Demitri sighed.

"I really don't like explaining things. Can't we just move on to the lesson?"

"Hell no, answer me! What did you do?" He sighed again.

"Contrary to what you might think, this wasn't just a scarf . . . well let me start at the beginning." He paused waiting for a reaction. I didn't give in, keeping my angry glare. He sighed. "Okay, I'm going to tell you what I know. The earth as you know it . . . it wasn't the first one in existence." I couldn't help but be surprised, although I still didn't show it.

"My first teacher had a . . . theory. The Great Spirit, the one who made the earth as we know it, didn't start with us. Because the spirit's only goal was to create a perfect society, it created First Earth, also known as the 'Shadow Side,' as well as the first gods, which were really physical extensions of different aspects of the spirit itself. First Earth was good, for a while, but there were several flaws. For one, their warriors were ridiculously strong; they easily overcame any physical obstacle they faced, excluding each other. This was also where the power of 'Adeptness' was first given to the humans by First Earth's gods. But with the birth of the Adepts came war. The added power to each of nation's armies made them overconfident. The adepts quickly became generals who led long and fierce battles against other nations. It was then that their second problem became apparent. The humans on First Earth took ridiculously long to heal, sometimes years for wounds that would only take weeks here. Since controlling the elements was extremely difficult on First Earth, it's third problem, mages were scarce, especially clerics. Even though those who mastered magic were the most intelligent child prodigies anyone has ever seen anywhere, there just weren't enough of them to support everyone in wartime.

"Realizing that it had failed, the spirit left First Earth and started over again with Second Earth, our earth." I stifled a gasp. He continued, apparently not hearing me.

"I'm sure you know the history of our earth pretty well. But . . . well let me put it this way. Second Earth isn't really separate from the First. The two civilizations co-exist with one another, only at different wavelengths, directly reverse of one another. The only way to cross over was to find an anomaly, where the wavelengths correspond. These anomalies were called portals, and they are extremely rare, the only known one lies deep in the dungeon..." He paused, probably regretting telling me that last thing. Oh well, too late now.

"This thing here is an artifact that resulted from the creation of Second Earth. It contains the essence of the volatile power of First Earth, and the control of the Second. This is probably one of the rarest things on both worlds... it's a part of a set, how many pieces there are is completely unknown. If you manage to find all of them, the power you'll have will be unimaginable, the power of a god."

The scarf had transformed back into its original state. He held it up for me to take it. Reluctantly I grabbed it and held it in my hands. It was cold, but oddly pleasant to hold in my hands. It gave me a tingling feeling I hadn't felt before when I first held it.

He looked at me for a second. I was overwhelmingly confused.

"Why me Demitri? Why me?" He shrugged.

"That's enough explanation. How bout I show you how to use it?" I stood up rigid, ready for action. Just holding the scarf seemed to fill me with an energy I didn't know I had.

"It's really not all that hard, especially since you have Yian to share the link with."

"How does that help?"

"Well, Yian already has a connection to the shadow nature of the scarf, and you the light since that's where you were born."

Something shiny appeared underneath his sleeve. Suddenly, the door opened.

"Yian why don't you go try out your flight for a while. I could use some alone time with Echo."

[You do know it wouldn't really be alone time don't you?] Yian argued. But I could tell his heart wasn't in it. He really wanted to go try out his new, fully developed wings.

_Wow, you're a bad liar. Just go, have some fun._ He looked at me, his eyes happy.

[Thanks buddy.]

_No problem._

With that, he slowly flexed the new muscles in his wings and took off, soaring through the air and gracefully swooping through the relatively narrow door way. The door shut behind him. Demitri paused for a moment, casually eying the scarf.

"Okay, he's far enough away now." He walked over to me and sat on another makeshift shadow mat. "The explanation is rather simple really, but the practice is hard. All you do is charge enough energy into the scarf till it dissolves into its natural onyx form, like you saw when I used it to free Yian." I stopped him.

"How will I know when enough is enough?" He looked at me blankly.

"Oh . . . well, it will work differently for you than it will for me. Having Yian complicates things. It's is already fully connected to Yian, since I used it to free him from your shadow. I didn't mean to do it, but I didn't have enough energy to get him out of your shadow myself. But controling the scarf wont really be a challenge for you as much as trying to restrain it's power at first. Well, since it's primary bond, for now, was to Yian, it's gauged to his practically limitless energy supply, and if you try and use it, and get carried away, it can start to drain energy at a rate too fast for you to replenish, which would kill you."

"Umm..."

"But I have enough of a belief you can control it to justify showing you how to use it so early. But the really cool thing about the scarf is it should act as a bridge between you and Yian, combining your energies and your physical selves into one being, like the way you were meant to be."

I gasped.

"Don't worry; you're not going to sprout wings or anything like that. You'll see eventually. Anyway, you can see how using the scarf this early could be dangerous. It might be better if you use your eyes the first time. . ."

Although I was still in shock I knew what he meant. I called upon the Adept's eye, something I had become oddly familiar with, and began to pour energy into the scarf. Eventually, the color started to switch from the golden color to a dark gray. For some reason I got the feeling that now would be the right time to stop inputting energy. Even after I stopped, the color steadily darkened, until it entered its onyx black state. It took a lot less energy than I would have expected.

Demitri stared at me in stunned silence. It took me a moment to notice, I was trying to separate it into two like I saw Demitri do.

"What is it?"

Unbeknownst to me, Demitri had coated his hands with a layer of shadow. Without warning he rushed at me with his fist, aiming for my head. Before I knew what was happening I spun around and caught his fist in my hand, that had somehow covered itself with one half of the now black scarf's material. The scarf gave off a blood red aura that traveled through it like electricity. The aura slowly began eating away at the shadow on Demitri's hand, until his bare skin was visible.

He grimaced and kicked at my stomach, which I also blocked with my free hand. He spun around, ripping his foot and hand away from me, panting heavily. His hand still glowed with remnants of the red energy, which he clutched with his free hand, apparently in pain.

"Dear god, I don't believe it."

"What... just happened here?"

"You really are... You somehow unlocked the shadow nature of the Astral Blade... without even trying."

"Astral Blade? And how is that even possible?"

"Yes, Astral Blade. That's the name of piece of the set that you have, which was meant to be a weapon. I have no idea how you could have accessed it so quickly. Even Yian's connection shouldn't have augmented your progress so severely. Looks like I can't take it easy on you."

Before I could comment, he came at me again. He moved faster than I expected, and punched me square in the jaw. I stumbled backwards, but quickly recovered. He followed up with a punch aimed at my gut, which I could block with enough forewarning. With his fist in my hand I punched him in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards. I unclenched my fist slightly as I began to run forward with my next attack, but before I could, a huge bolt of red energy shot out of my hand, aimed at Demitri. He dodged out of the way, luckily, as a small explosion erupted where the bolt landed at the far end of the platform.

My Adept's eye went into overdrive, time seemed to slow and every piece of sensory information I was receiving was amplified tenfold. I began to feel dizzy.

I slumped to the floor, the Astral Blade returned to its normal form and wrapped itself around my neck.

"I told you that would happen if you get carried away. What was with that energy blast thing? Were you trying to kill me?"

"No... it just kind of happened..."

My eyes returned to normal, and I could see Demitri had a concerned look on his face.

"At least now you see the potential of the Blade, so you won't abuse it in the future. Get back up, and we'll take it slow this time."

I struggled to my feet, still a little bit dizzy. Demitri gestured, and I unwrapped the Blade from my neck and remade my knuckles. We fought slower this time, but it was still a taxing session. By the end I could barely stand. The bell rang in the hallway, soon accompanied by the stomping of bored adolescents.

"I'll see you next class Echo. Try to keep yourself under control."

* * *

I trudged slowly to Scrolling. The teacher seemed delighted to see me, as far as I could tell by the gasp. As I raised my head to see who it was I stopped half way. She was wearing a black mini skirt.

_No please no._

[Did you say something?] I almost forgot Yian wasn't with me. I'd grown so used to his constant attention.

_Nothing, forget it. Where are you?_

[Flying above the school. This is incredible!] I wasn't used to feeling all of his emotions. It was hard to resist giving in to his joy that bubbled over into me. I was smiling when, unfortunately, I looked up into the face of the teacher from second period. I shuddered at her returning grin, and quickly rushed to a seat in the back of the room before she could touch me.

Scrolling was fairly simple. All you had to do was introduce energy into the scroll, just enough to slightly puncture the seal on its dormant energy. If done successfully, the scroll will release a small orb of power, its color varying based on the type of scroll. Then you just take the item you're scrolling, and introduce the power of the scroll at a certain rate, the rate indicated by the color of the orb. For example, if you have a 70 percent scroll, introduce 70 percent of the orb's energy per second. Seventy and thirty percent scrolls are the most volatile, and have the potential to destroy your item. There are three other types, 10, 60, and 100 percent scrolls. 100 percent's are fool proof. The others are more difficult to control.

Also, certain items have a different capacity for holding energy from scrolls. Capes, gloves, earrings, and shoes can all hold 5 scrolls. Shirts, hats, and pants can hold seven. Overalls can hold 10. There are certain exceptions to the average, such as Yellow Adventures Capes, and Brown Work Gloves.

A kid in the front row was fervently scrolling all the items he had with him, trying to win the teacher's approval. She barely paid any attention to him. By the end of class I had successfully scrolled a Sauna Robe with 10, 10 percent scrolls for some effect, I wasn't paying that much attention. My practice with Demitri when my life depended on it made this seem extremely dull. Apparently 10 10% scrolls working was some great accomplishment, because people were begging to buy it from me. I politely turned them down and carried it out of the room to dinner. I sat with Fye and his friends, Roy and Lai came to sith with us too, and we all chatted about random nonsense I didn't care about. I was distracted, thinking about the Astral blade, and my book, which I never got a chance to ask Demirti about. I used my free period to practice making things with my Blade, and then practiced my control with Demitri for the rest of the day.

Wearily I returned back to the dorm. Yian was waiting for me on my bed. Well, not really waiting for me, the whole guild was crowded around him, murmuring in excitement and wonder. A few stayed back, disturbed by the strange new creature.

Fye hopped over to me excitedly. He started talking a mile a minute. "When you told me about him I didn't know what to think and – he's yours right? What am I saying of course he is. And I didn't know he was so big, especially since you only got him a few days ago, and now he has those wings – have you flown with him yet? That must be exhilarating, flying above everything like that. Of course, I know, I have my hawk, but flying like that is painful. I wonder how it feels, being so carefree and just soaring, enjoying the sights and all that. Man one day I wish I . . ." He babbled on like that for a while. All of his questions weren't really questions, just introductions to his next comment. I listened, happy to listen to him.

* * *

The next day, I got up and basically started to repeat the same schedule as the day before.

World history was just as uneventful as the day before. He spent the whole class talking about himself, where he was born, his parents, his hobbies, all under the guise of him teaching us about his own personal history. I got the feeling he was just lonely and wanted someone to listen to him. At the end of class we got an assignment to write our own personal histories, complete with a title and everything. He urged us to be as creative and informative as possible, and assured us we would all be interested in hearing about each others lives. While I was curious, I doubt anyone else was.

During the events period there was no major competition happening. There was a scavenger hunt going on, the top prize thirty thousand credits, but I wasn't really interested. Instead I decided to go visit some old friends. I made my way over to the trainee dorms and knocked heavily. To my surprise the door simply swung open. I stuck my head inside.

"Hello?"

I opened the door up just wide enough to squeeze through and walked inside, closing it behind me. The lights were off, so I made my way along the right side of the wall to the switches. My foot slipped a bit in a pool of water on the floor and I reached out the nearest bunk to steady me. Trying to play it off as coolly as possible I leaned on the bed for a few seconds before pushing off and going to turn on the lights.

As the new light flooded the room, I held back a gasp. Scattered around the room were five dead bodies, kids I had flown in to school with. One of the bodies were charred, their skin black and hard underneath their clothes. Two more were frozen to death, their faces contorted in expressions of terror. The last body was slightly burned, like the first, but the unburned shin was covered in deep cuts, still fresh with blood.

I looked down, and to my horror the puddle I stepped in had not been water, but blood.

Sitting in the middle of the scene were Lai and Roy, very much alive and breathing hard.

Lai looked up at me.

"We did a bad thing, Echo."


End file.
